Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

4. Pressures

4.1. Fishing In the Caspian littoral states, the fishing industry is very important for many rural communities living in coastal areas around the Caspian Sea or in the deltas of rivers flowing into it. However, the relatively low level of economic development in rural areas and inadequate legal regulation are important factors that are maintaining pressure on fragile resources (United Nations Environ- ment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal 2014). Fish stocks are affected by natural con- ditions such as the hydrological regime of rivers and fluctuations in sea level, as well as pollution, invasive species and human economic activities – dam construction and various fishing strategies. The consequences of sea level fluctuations, which are largely associated with changes in the hydro- logical regime of rivers, became apparent during the period 1971–1991, when large changes in fish numbers from period to period were observed in the Kizlyar Bay area of Dagestan in the Rus- sian Federation, due to sea level fluctuations in spawning areas (Abdusamadov et al. 2015). It has been determined (Ivanov 2000) that annual stock replenishment depends on the timing and volume of the spring high water in the Volga Riv- er: the greater the river run-off, the higher the juvenile survival rate and spawning productivity. In 2015, the spring high water reached a critical minimum. This led to negligible stock replenish- ment of semi-migratory fish species. Hydroengineering had a significant effect on the hydrological regime of rivers, in some cases blocking fish migration routes. All this resulted in a sharp reduction in catches of both semi-mi- gratory and migratory fish species. Fish stocks in the Terek River are almost completely depleted due to the impact of construction on fish repro- duction, feeding and migration (Abdusamadov et al. 2015). Fishing of aquatic biological resources in the Vol- ga-Caspian fishing grounds is mainly based on semi-migratory species (Caspian roach, bream, catfish, pike, pike perch, carp, rudd, crucian

carp, white bream, perch, blue bream, sabre carp, roach, Volga pikeperch, asp, ruffe, tench, white- eye bream and herring). Overfishing has been a persistent problem for many years, leading to the depletion of several fish species. Unregulated fishing by amateur fish- ers is contributing to the reduction of fish stocks. At the same time, overfishing of sturgeon, in par- ticular, is not new, and had already resulted in a decline in fish stocks and catches as far back as 1914 (Ruban et al. 2015). Total production is a characteristic indicator of the state of fish resources. For example, total produc- tion in Kazakhstan decreased by more than half between 1989 and 2007 (Kazakhstan, Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Statistics Committee 2009–2018). It is possible that, in addition to the sharp decline in fish stocks in the Caspian Sea, problems associated with a large number of illegal vessels engaged in fishing also contributed to this decrease. The Ural-Caspi- an region has nonetheless maintained stable fish catches over the past decade due to an increase in the bony fish catch (Strukova et al. 2016). Total production by fisheries in Azerbaijan is less than 15,000 tons (Azerbaijan 2018), while the fish catch in Turkmenistan was 1,693 tons in 2017 (Turkmenstat 2018). It should also be noted that informal employment is common in most of the Caspian littoral states (World Bank 2017b). The question of whether aquaculture is useful for ecosystem management and social develop- ment in the Caspian littoral states is the subject of much discussion, and the significance of this sec- tor varies in different parts of the Caspian region. Aquaculture was not common in Azerbaijan before the end of the twentieth century, but it is becoming increasingly important today (Salm- onov et al. 2013). The Blue Marine Foundation is implementing a project to help protect some fish ecosystems in Azerbaijan through promoting Aquaculture

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