Fishing near the Vitebsk HPP dam on the Western Dvina is prohibited

The Ministry of Natural Resources has adopted a resolution prohibiting amateur fishing in the section of the Western Dvina River from the Vitebsk HPP dam for a distance of 800 m downstream to the mouth of the Luzhesnyanka River. The reasons for this decision were commented on by Dmitry Motoro, Head of the Vitebsk Inter-district Inspectorate for the Protection of Fauna and Flora:

- Due to the construction of the Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Station, the Dvina riverbed has been blocked during the construction period, and the water has been directed through an diversion canal. As a result, during the feeding-spawning and wintering migrations of fish, a significant accumulation of fish occurs before the dam. Fishermen actively exploit this situation, including by illegal snagging. During field control measures, the inspectorate's employees established that a large number of amateur fishermen, as well as citizens engaged in snagging, gather at this location daily. The duty service has repeatedly received reports of illegal fishing.

In order to prevent mass fish removal through amateur fishing and prohibited methods, to preserve fish resources, and to create favorable conditions for migration, the Vitebsk Regional Inspectorate for the Protection of Fauna and Flora initiated the adoption of a decision by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to introduce a ban on amateur fishing in this section of the Dvina.

The ban is in effect from June 9, 2015, to April 9, 2017.

Sergey Lyashuk, "Vitebskiye vesti"