The dispute over net fishing in the southeastern Saimaa waterway received its final resolution on Wednesday, when the government ratified two statutes concerning the protection of the endangered Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis).
Net fishing is henceforth prohibited in the key habitats of the Saimaa ringed seal from mid-April until the end of June.
This is to avoid unnecessary deaths of the ringed seal through becoming entrapped in a net and drowning.
The designated area covers just under half of Saimaa.
The so-called trammel nets as well as fish traps with large openings are totally prohibited.
With regard tonet fishing, the change is not huge.
Around 95 per cent of the area covered by the legislation is already protected through voluntary agreements.
Around thirty local fishing associations, however, would have wanted to leave some of their waters outside the scope of the ban. The decree seals up these gaps, so to speak.
According to the Fishing Act, violation of the ban is an offence punishable with fines.
The monitoringof the ban is largely being left to the fishing associations themselves, some of which have expressed their dissatisfaction with the new rules in the first place.
“I reckon it will be quite difficult to add much contribution to the monitoring effort”, says fishing industry advisor Harry Härkönen from the South Savo arm of ProAgria, a specialist organisation providing services to rural entrepreneurs. ProAgria was also involved in arranging the earlier voluntary agreements.
