Gas pipeline construction blocks river in Vyborg
Border river treaty bans measures that block migration of salmon trout
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The Environment Centre of Southeast Finland is concerned on behalf of the salmon trout population of the Mustajoki River, which flows into the Bay of Vyborg in Russia.
It is feared that the population could be in danger, after part of the planned undersea natural gas pipeline has been placed beneath the riverbed in such a way that logs left in the river are blocking the migratory route of the salmon trout that the river is famous for.
Fish biologist Markku Kaukoranta of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute feels that the blockages in the river violate a treaty between Finland and Russia on border waters.
“Under the treaty, actions by either side must not hinder the flow of water, or the free movement of fish”, says Kaukoranta, a fisheries expert for the border waters commission.
Mustajoki rise near Lappeenranta on the Finnish side, runs west of the Saimaa Canal, and empties into Vyborg Bay. The salmon trout population of the river is genetically the old Finnish sea-based salmon trout strain.
“Mustajoki is the only remaining river in the southeast of Finland where the salmon trout population in question reaches the Finnish side. Protecting the population is extremely important”, says hydrobiologist Pekka Vähänäkki of the Environment Centre of southeast Finland.
In September the Environment Centre of Southeast Finland visited the Russian side of the river.
In Vyborg the researchers came across the pipeline construction site, where a pipe was made to run beneath the Mustajoki River. Masses of clay from the river bottom had been piled on top of the pipeline, and two tubes had been placed in the river as culverts of sorts.
"At the location of the pipeline, the river had been dug up in such a way that the silt spread to the lower rapids. Tree roots and trunks had been left in the river, preventing the migration of fish upriver - and to Finland”, Vähänäkki says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 8.10.2009 - TODAY |
 Gas pipeline construction blocks river in Vyborg |
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