Scattered restrictions on net fishing harm Saimaa ringed seal population

Ministry to update fishing regulations in seal habitat

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by Petja Pelli
     
      Photographer Juha Taskinen decided to take his boat through the labyrinthine Pihlajavesi in the Saimaa waterway on Sunday evening. The passengers in the boat had been staring at the surface of the water for more than an hour.
     “Ringed seal at ten o’clock”, Taskinen announces.
     Binoculars are raised. A smooth round head pokes out onto the surface like a periscope. The young seal sniffs at the sky, and then looks straight at the passenger. There it is: the face of Finnish nature conservation.
     The mammal then plunges beneath the surface for several minutes, until the dark lump of its head pops up again 300 metres further on.
     
The young ringed seal does not know that a big debate is going on about its protection. A working group of the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is re-examining the restrictions placed on the use fishnets and traps, which have been implemented to protect the endangered species. Currently a voluntary springtime ban on net fishing is a focus of disagreement.
     Currently, the cooperatives which own waters in the Saimaa, are free to decide whether or not to take part in the conservation action. Those cooperatives that agree to desist from putting nets in the water from mid-April to late June are paid compensation by Metsähallitus, the state-run enterprise which administers state-owned forest and water areas..
     Now there are rumours circulating that the spring to early summer net fishing ban might be made mandatory. Green MP Heli Järvinen has submitted a legislative initiative to that effect already last autumn.
     
Metsähallitus biologist Tero Sipilä says that nearly half of seal pups bor in a year are drowned when they get entangled into fishnets.
     “This, compbined with winters with too little snow, prevent the growth in the number of ringed seals”, Sipilä says.
     Sipilä feels that the area covered by the net fishing ban should be increased fourfold. This goal is not likely to be attained any time soon.
     The map showing the protected areas in the Saimaa has the appearance of a patchwork quilt. Even in the best seal waters there are cooperatives which reject the Metsähallitus offer of money one year after another.
     In addition, many cooperatives accept the bans only on those parts of their areas where they do not keep nets very much anyway.
     
In addition to the voluntary nature of the fishing restrictions, there are disagreements on the size of the ringed seal population. Many local people feel that there are more than the 260 claimed by Metsähallitus - even though the seal population is investigated intensely.
      Pekka Nousiainen, the municipal mayor of Punkaharju, and former Centre Party MP, accuses Metsähallitus of deliberately underestimating the Saimaa ringed seal population so that they might get more work.
     Nousiainen helped organise a delegation which visited Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sirkka-Liisa Anttila (Centre) in June, demanding voluntary conservation and compensation for the damage that the seals inflict on fishermen.
     
If Taskinen, a long-term ringed seal protector, could decide, a springtime ban on net fishing would be imposed “at one go” for five years.
     He also would like to see more openness on the part of Metsähallitus.
     “This protection of the Saimaa ringed seal is too much of a secret science. Metsähallitus could give out information on the location of seal nests to local people. That way, everyone could see them as “our seals”.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.8.2008


Links:
  Virtual Finland: Saimaa ringed seal
  Wikipedia: Saimaa ringed seal

PETJA PELLI HS / Helsingin Sanomat