The scientist believes that roach fishing in the Russian Federation should be banned for five years

The roach may disappear if its fishing is not banned for at least five years, Kirill Litvinov, deputy director for scientific work of the Astrakhan State Nature Reserve, shared this opinion with TASS.

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has banned industrial and amateur fishing of roach in Astrakhan Oblast and the Caspian Sea until the end of 2024, except for 10 days in April.

However, the scientist believes that a yearly ban on roach fishing is not enough.

“The species may disappear as a product, since over the past 100 years the fishery has decreased by more than 100 times. On the scale of the species, this is a disaster. The faster we take measures to preserve the roach, the greater the likelihood of preserving the population and product for humans. The roach reaches sexual maturity at the age of three years, the most productive age is from four to six years. Therefore, if we want to get results, then we need to allow at least one generation of roach to grow. Therefore, we must limit fish seizures for at least five years. But this does not exclude the problem of watering the spawning grounds and monitoring the implementation of the ban — all the fishermen cannot be inspected,” Kirill Litvinov told the agency.

According to the scientist, the main reason for the decline in the number of this fish is overfishing by all possible means. Amateur fishing, which involves harvesting fish, is common in the region.

“For many years, people have been coming in camps, setting up refrigerators, drying, salting, and preparing food. As a rule, such camps are created by visitors, not local residents. This creates a certain conflict situation. There is also illegal fishing and poaching. Taken together, the result is currently excessive fish harvesting,” the expert emphasized.

Another problem, according to Kirill Litvinov, is the regime of water discharges from reservoirs into the Lower Volga that is unfavorable for fish. In recent years, there has been a reduction in both annual water flow and spring water flow during the spawning period. In addition, mistakes are still made in forecasting the volume of flood waters, the scientist concluded.