. 24/7 Space News .
A Fishing Port With No Fish On Wild Russian Island

A picture taken 30 September 2006 shows Russian fishing-boats docking at the port of Korsakov on Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin. Photo courtesy of Denis Sinyakov and AFP.
by Dario Thuburn
Korsakov (AFP) Oct 2, 2006
The only fish you're likely to see at the port of Korsakov on Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin are the few caught by some locals crouching along the pier. "Everything goes to Japan," said Sasha, a broad-shouldered 30-year-old who worked as a crab fisher here for five years, pointing out to sea in the direction of Japanese shores some 150 kilometres (93 miles) away.

Crab, perch, plaice and other seafood caught by Russian boats in the Sea of Okhotsk and beyond goes directly to Japanese and South Korean ports where prices are far higher, locals say.

Sometimes Russian fishermen poach in restricted waters -- even straying into North Korean territory -- and shift their illegal cargo directly onto Japanese boats in the open sea, Sasha said.

Border guards say fishing in Russia's Far East is a highly criminalised business worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Sakhalin fishing boss Vasily Naumov, also known as "Yakut," was shot dead in South Korea in 2003.

"I used to work for Yakut. Yakut got shot. He was in the fish business," said Sasha. "Everyone says he was mafia but he was a nice guy... He paid everyone on time."

The business may be lucrative but fishermen here complain of low salaries -- which average some 1,000 dollars (789 euros) for three months at sea -- as well as restrictive quotas and depleted fish stocks.

"The problems of the fishing industry are very serious," said Alexander Gusto, a candidate from Sakhalin for a by-election to the Russian parliament later this month, in an interview with the "Fisherman of Sakhalin" newspaper.

"The fish are dying and poachers go out and fish," Gusto said.

Sakhalin has been long famed for its rich fish stocks. One Japanese explorer in the 19th century wrote that "the water looked as though it was boiling" because of the multitude of fish.

But fishermen here say the industry is not what it used to be in Soviet times. The collapse of Communism in 1991 has hit infrastructure, such as fish processing capacity.

Some fishermen also complain that the expansion of offshore oil and gas projects in the Sea of Okhotsk may have impacted on the health and quantity of seafood.

"Fishing no longer makes sense," Viktor Zotkin, head of the South Sakhalin Fish Factory, was quoted as saying in Russian media at a meeting with activists from Russia's Green party earlier this year.

Sakhalin Energy, a Shell-led consortium that is developing offshore fields and building a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant near Korsakov, says there is no proven link between its project and lower fish catches.

Fishing in the waters around Sakhalin -- a 1,000-kilometre-long island that is often shrouded in mist and surrounded by ice for six months of the year -- can also be a dangerous business.

"I sank twice. Once, we lost half the crew in the Tatar Straits. There was a storm and it flipped the boat," Sasha said, referring to the western coast between Sakhalin and the mainland.

Fishermen are particularly fearful of the "okolka," a sheet of ice that covers the boats when waves hit in winter. Unless chipped off with wooden hammers, it can become a thick layer and sink the boat.

Russian border guard patrols add to the danger. Earlier this year, one patrol accidentally shot dead a Japanese fisherman on a boat alleged to be poaching in Russian waters near the Kuril islands.

"Once we got caught by border guards. They called in a military plane. It fired blanks. When it went back for fuel, we repainted the boat, renamed it and put up a different flag," Sasha said.

On a recent visit to Korsakov, border guard patrol boats could be seen in dock. Nearby, work continued on Sakhalin Energy's LNG plant and logs could be seen being loaded onto a large boat.

The sight of Sakhalin's raw riches being shipped out made Sasha regretful as he looked out to sea. "We sell logs to the Koreans and then we buy wooden furniture from them. We just don't have the brains."

Source: Agence France-Presse

Related Links
Water, Water Everywhere and Not A Drop To Drink...



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


China To Relocate 300,000 More People For Three Gorges Dam
Beijing (AFP) Oct 2, 2006
China has announced it will relocate around 300,000 more people than planned to make way for the Three Gorges Dam, bringing the total number displaced for the giant project to over 1.4 million. China had expected to resettle 1.13 million people but that figure has already been surpassed, well before the project goes into full operation in 2008, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report late Sunday.







  • First Female Space Tourist Longs To Head Back To Space
  • NASA And Partners To Create Center For Space Science And Technology
  • Russia, Malaysia Ink Space Deal As Tourist Flight Prices Rise
  • UP Aerospace Recovers Payloads After Inaugural Launch From New Mexico's Spaceport America

  • Opportunity's View At The Rim Of Victoria: 'Just Breathtaking'
  • Victoria Crater Marks Giant Cake For 1000 Sols On Mars
  • APL-Built Mineral-Mapping Imager Begins Mission At Mars
  • Spirit Powers Up As A Second Summer Beckons

  • RSC Energia Extraordinary Stockholders Meeting
  • MetOp Launch Postponed
  • Space XL Fails To Reach Sub-Orbital Space
  • Arianespace CEO Calls For New Pricing Regime

  • NASA Satellite Data Helps Assess the Health of Florida's Coral Reef
  • Alcatel Alenia Space To Build SIRAL-2 Radar Altimeter For CryoSat-2
  • Earth from Space: The French Frigate Shoals
  • European Microsatellite Playing Major Role In Scientific Studies

  • New Horizons Spacecraft Snaps Approach Image of the Giant Planet
  • Does The Atmosphere Of Pluto Go Through The Fast-Freeze
  • Changing Seasons On The Road Trip To Planet Nine
  • Surprises From The Edge Of The Solar System

  • Stellar Birth Control In The Early Universe
  • VLTI Discerns How Matter Behaves in Disc Around a Be Star
  • Champagne Supernova Challenges Ideas about How Supernovae Work
  • New Evidence Links Stellar Remains To Oldest Recorded Supernova

  • Indian Moon Mission To Launch By Early 2008
  • India Space Agency Dreams Of Lunar Ice Mines
  • New Lunar Meteorite Found In Antarctica
  • Russia And China Could Sign Moon Exploration Pact In 2006

  • Spirent Communications Selected By DLR To Provide Advanced Galileo Test
  • Solar flares Cause GPS Failures, Possibly Devastating For Jets And Distress Calls
  • Schriever Airmen Assume Take Control Of New GPS Satellite
  • US Air Force Takes Control Of Latest GPS Satellite

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement