A serious environmental incident occurred in Altai

In the Altai Territory, investigators are looking into the details of the death of all fish in Strawberry Lake in the Zalesovsky District. The reservoir was abruptly drained, killing about 15 tons of its inhabitants, according to the Investigations Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the region.

According to the head of the local municipality, Alexander Plasteev, the hydraulic structures of Strawberry and the land adjacent to the lake are leased for a long time by a private company.

Officials of the investigating authorities intend to find the perpetrators of the death of the fish. On the fact of the incident, a criminal case can be initiated under Article 250 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

It provides for liability for pollution, clogging and depletion of surface or groundwater, if these actions have significantly harmed the animal or plant world, as well as fish stocks.

The prosecutor’s office of the Altai Territory is also investigating the fact of the death of the fish. Prosecutors will assess the implementation of legislation in the field of protection and extraction of aquatic biological resources.

According to RIA Novosti, the reason may be that unknown people allegedly opened the valve of the hydraulic structure and the water was drained. But the head of the department of aquatic biological resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the region, Sergey Degtyar, said that the reason for the shallowing of the reservoir is still unknown and “still needs to be sorted out.” Experts, according to the head, are considering many reasons: from man-made factors to adverse climatic conditions — many reservoirs of the region have become shallow due to this However, it is recognized that such a sharp shallowing due to natural causes is unlikely. “The negligence of the dam tenant, who did not repair the hydraulic structure in time,” is also considered.

In addition to the landlord, beavers were named as the alleged perpetrators of the tragedy. Sergei Degtyar said: “Beavers blocked the stream with a dam and closed the inflow of water. Beavers in the region cause great damage to water bodies. Recently, seven water bodies have been drained because of these animals.”

Lake Strawberry as a fishery reservoir is not listed in the register of the Ministry of Natural Resources. Nevertheless, according to the speaker, since the lake was large, about 25–30 hectares, there should be much more fish in it than the declared 15–20 tons. Degtyar noted that upon the identification of accurate damage estimates, it will depend on whether a criminal or administrative case is initiated.

The regional Ministry of Nature said that specialists from the Verkhneobsky Territorial Administration of the Federal Agency for Fisheries and scientists from AltaiNIRO (Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography) were sent to the area. They will be engaged in determining the damage to fish stocks and will begin to look for the culprit of the incident.

Alexander Plasteev noted that the lake was being drained for the second year in a row, and promised to take measures to prevent this from happening again.

Now it is planned to find an investor for the lake and create a fish farm there.

Cover photo: telegram channel of the head of the Zalesovsky municipal district Alexander Plasteev