"The fish stocks are not endless, and the illegal fisher is essentially stealing from law-abiding fishermen. Moreover, he endangers the common natural resource of us all," said Rainer Vakra, Director General of the Environmental Board.
The 20 nets discovered last week belonged to a professional fisherman who had previously been penalized for violating fishing rules. "The nets we discovered had been set for fishing in the morning and we found them around lunchtime, so there were only a few fish caught there and all of them were still alive. One pike, whitefish, bream, and perch pike went back into the water, and due to that, the illegal fisher escaped the claim for compensation for environmental damage," said Ivar Veider, the leading inspector of the Jõgeva Surveillance Bureau of the Environmental Board.
The misdemeanor proceedings ended with a fine of 600 euros for the installer of illegal nets.
The owners of the remaining nets have not yet been identified. Of the eight nets removed from fishing today, 25 breams, 6 pike perches, and burbots were rescued alive. 21 pike perches and one whitefish had died in the net, and these fish are sent to a waste disposal plant for destruction in accordance with the rules.
In two days, a total of 2,174 meters of illegal gillnets were detected and removed from fishing, with more than a thousand euros in environmental damage caused by the fish killed in them.
Fishing with gillnets is only allowed on the basis of a permit, and in order for Peipsi's fish stocks to survive, the number of permits for fishing on Lake Peipsi and the maximum length of the line of traps is limited.
A legal net must be flagged and provided with information on which fisherman is fishing with the net. In the absence of a marking, this is predatory fishing that threatens the survival of fish stocks. Therefore, the finding of an unmarked net should be reported to the state information by phone 1247 or e-mail 1247@1247.ee.
