A Sakhalin resident formed a poaching gang to catch a specially protected, red-listed kaluga fish.
He called his elderly acquaintances to accomplices. All, as the Telegram channel wrote “PE Sakhalin”, was detained by the police in Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky. Then they are accused of illegal production of Red Book fish with the sale.
The female founder of the organized crime syndicate bought motorboats, fishing nets and other equipment for illegal business. After the arrest, a search was made. Six freshly frozen pieces of kaluga fish meat were found in the freezer. Investigators recovered five more similar fillets from the apartment of the mother of the poachers’ female leader. The amount of damage to the state exceeded 1 million rubles.
The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that a criminal case was opened against poachers.
Kaluga is a freshwater fish belonging to the Beluga genus of the sturgeon family. It was known as a stick in the 18th century. It lives in the temperate zone between 55 °N in the Amur basin. Shh. and 43° N. Shh. They are found at depths of up to 50 m, in the past they were a valuable commercial fish.
There is no exact data on the number in recent years, the Red Book of Russia assumes the presence in nature of about 2000 individuals older than 2 years. According to the Russian and international Red Book, the population of kaluga continues to decline due to pollution of the Amur, unrestricted commercial fishing by Chinese fishermen, and poaching in Russia. Fishing in Russian waters has been prohibited since 1958; Commercial fishing of kaluga and other sturgeon in Chinese waters has been legalized (licensed by the state).
The species is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.
On a small scale, fry are released by fish hatcheries in Russia and China. But the number of Kaluga is not improving, since 2004 a decrease in its number has been noted.