According to the information a 50,000 zloty has been granted to provide volunteer fish guards with radio-telephones, rubber boots and insulated underwear will make life tougher for Polish salmon poachers. It is said that Gaja will provide equipment for Volunteer Fish Guards (VFG) to strengthen protection of the declining, and already low, wild salmon populations in the Polish rivers.
Under the auspices of the project, “Social protection of fish and water ecosystems”, funded by the Oak Foundation, GFG plans to dedicate 50,000 zloty (€12,000) to equip the Volunteer Fish Guards with much needed gear to carry out protection efforts against salmon poachers.
Jakub Szumin, head of Green Federation ‘Gaja’, informs that at the beginning of the decade the main reason for salmon poaching was poverty. It is told that the salmon management in Polish Rivers is fragmented at best. Dr. Piotr D?bowski, the Director of the Migratory Fish Departament at The Institute of Inland Fisheries in Poland, claims that there is no systematic method to assess the salmon populations in the various rivers and therefore no accurate data is available on the species.
According to some Polish anglers, salmon re-stocking has become a big business, therefore detection and prevention of poaching has often been counter-productive. Currently in the Western Pomerania Region, the Volunteer Fish Guards (VFG) include 70 to 100 people. These individuals are mostly anglers and fishermen operating on a volunteer basis supporting the professional guards, the National Fisheries Guards (NFG).
It is important to note that the Volunteer Fish Guards do not have the power to impose penalties, and neither can they apply the so –called “direct coercion”, meaning they cannot stop or fine any poachers.
