Police confirm massive poaching in Tuzly Estuaries National Park - management justifies it by demand
Kyiv • UNN
Police uncovered another case of poaching in the Tuzly Estuaries National Park. Two fishermen were detained, nets and illegal catch were seized, and the damage caused is estimated at over UAH 15.3 million.
Police officers in Odesa region uncovered another fact of poaching in the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park. According to preliminary estimates, the damage caused to the state is more than 15.3 million hryvnias. This is reported by the Main Department of the National Police in Odesa region, UNN reports .
Details
It is reported that yesterday, on September 11, during a raid along the coast of the Tuzly Estuaries National State Park, on Lake Alibey near the village of Novomykhailivka, officers of the water police of the Belgorod-Dniester District Police Department, together with border guards and environmentalists, exposed and stopped the illegal actions of two fishermen who were fishing with nets.
The investigative team seized three fishing nets with a total length of 100 meters, fishing equipment and 472 fish weighing almost 15 kilograms, including glossy flounder, spiny mullet, and pufferfish.
We handed over the illegal catch to a specialized enterprise for storage, and seized the gear and equipment as material evidence. According to preliminary estimates, the fishermen caused the state losses in excess of UAH 15.3 million through their illegal actions,
The offenders face restriction of liberty for up to three years. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing under the procedural supervision of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Specialized Defense Prosecutor's Office of the Southern Region.
At the same time, the park's management, which annually allocates almost UAH 6 million for nature protection, justifies poaching on their territory by demand. The Ministry of Ecology, which is in charge of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park, does not comment on mass poaching.
Add
The Southern Office of the State Audit Service has completed an audit of the financial and economic activities of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park and will soon be announced.
We remind you that in May 2024, mass poaching was also detected in the Tuzly Estuaries National Park.
Earlier, UNN reported that the Tuzly Estuaries National Park in Odesa Oblast has an annual budget of 5,565,380 hryvnias, of which 97% is spent on salaries for 45 employees. This is a very impressive number of staff for a national park during the war. However, according to law enforcement officials, they are unable to restore order there.
For comparison, the budget of Tuzly Estuaries is 300 drones, which are badly needed by the military on the front line and will be funded by people. Assuming that each national park has such budgets, and there are more than 50 of them, limiting their funding and releasing budgetary funds would be enough for 15,000 drones.
We would like to add that local authorities sent an appeal to the Ministry of Ecology to dismiss the management of the National Park, but the Ministry of Ecology has not announced a competition for a new manager.
