Georgia: The employees of the Environmental Supervision Department of the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia identified 332 facts of illegal fishing from January 1 to June 30, 2024.
This was done in the framework of the fight against poaching. One hundred forty of them contain criminal offenses. The materials were sent to the relevant authorities for further response.
Poachers often used illegal fishing tools such as fishing nets, electric shock devices, fishing nets, and others. In total, the amount of illegally obtained fish exceeded 243 kg.
The Department of Environmental Supervision prioritizes disclosing, detecting, and preventing illegal fishing. Preventive measures are intensively planned in this direction, especially in locations where poaching has become relatively common in recent years.
As a result of preventive measures in the first six months of the current year, more than 2400 meters of netting, more than 200 meters of rope net, and more than 31 units of fishing traps have been removed.
The nets have been removed by the employees of the regional administration of Adjara and Guria from the basins of the rivers—Chorokhi, Kaparchina, Supsi, and Adjara waters—as well as from the Lashtani Lake by the employees of Mtskheta Mtianeti from the Mtkvri river, as well as from the reservoirs of Zhinvali and Sioni; and by the staff of the central office from the Tbilisi Sea.
The Environmental Oversight Department crews patrol throughout the country nonstop, 24 hours a day, to prevent, detect, and promptly report illegal forestry, poaching, fishing, and other environmental violations. In addition, an immediate response is made to each message received on the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture’s hotline (153).
Ministry of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia is a governmental agency within the Georgian Cabinet in charge of regulating economic activity in the country’s agricultural sector and protecting the environment, with the purpose of increasing the sector’s production capacity.
