Trout stock in Lake Sevan does not exceed two tons
One or two metric tons of trout remain now in Armenia's largest Lake Sevan, according to Bardukh Gabrielyan, the head of Hydro and Zoology Research Center, an affiliation of the National Academy of Sciences.
Earlier, nature protection minister Aramayis Grigoryan said some 605,447 fry trout were released into Lake Sevan. The breeding of some 367,000 was paid by the government and the rest by the Fund for Recovery of Sevan Trout Stock.
"The reasons for the small stock of trout are the adverse environmental conditions, resulting from an increase in water level in the lake and illegal fishing", Bardukh Gabrielyan said to a press conference today.
According to nature protection ministry, curbing poaching in Lake Sevan for two years would allow to ensure commercial fishing of whitefish.
According to a joint study, conducted by Armenian and Russian researchers, in 1983 the lake held around 21,000 tons of fish, which dwindled to 625 tons in 2005, to 253 tons in 2006, growing to 278 tons in 2009 and to 300 tons now.
Lake Sevan, one of the largest alpine lakes in Europe and Asia, is located in the heart of the Armenian plateau, at an altitude of 1914 meters. The lake stretches over 70 kilometers from northwest to southeast. Its water surface area is nearly 1500 square kilometers. The lake is the main source of drinking water in the region. By 2030, the lake’s level is to rise to 1903.5 meters. -0-