An operation to identify poachers "Putin 2012" began in Kamchatka in August. It is carried out by the local police. Until October 1 - during this period, the salmon fishing season ends - operatives are on duty at fishing grounds, inspecting cars, and detecting illegal fishing throughout the Kamchatka Territory.
All measures are being taken to suppress large and small consignments of poaching fish. Additionally, stationary posts are set up daily on all main highways of the region. Police officers stop and inspect the contents of the trunks of passing cars to prevent the transportation of fish products that fall under the law.
According to Interfax, citing the press service of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Kamchatka Territory, in a few days at the beginning of this month, the police seized from poachers: 16 tons of elk fish, 300 kg of caviar, more than 800 m of nets, as well as watercraft and boat motors.
Most illegal fishermen are detained on the rivers Kamchatka, Staraya Kamchatka, Bolshaya, Avacha and in the Krasheninnikov bay. Other reservoirs of the fishing region are also being checked.
Most often, illegal fishing on the peninsula is carried out by visitors from other regions, foreigners from neighboring countries, as well as local pensioners, unemployed, and sometimes children, the agency reports.
On August 14, Tsentr TV showed a report that the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Department of Internal Affairs managed to detain the largest illegal catch of the season. The poachers were found on the Bolshaya River, not far from the town of Vilyuchinsk. A group of fishermen came for the "booty" from Khabarovsk.
The police appeared on the banks of the river from the air. A video camera installed outside the helicopter recorded the process of illegal fishing, a net filled with salmon, and poachers' boats.
The detained brigade consisted not only of Khabarovsk residents. Local residents were also involved - they were directly involved in the sale of caviar. Fishermen hunted in the place where Russian submariners were based at that time. They lived right on the shore, bypassed the cordons on boats. Undercover, the poachers managed to remain unnoticed by the police for more than one day. They seized 600 kg of gutted fish and 100 kg of red caviar. A criminal case was initiated.
