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Under the frame of the Environmental Liability, the company RMG is implementing a project, aiming to return the species of fish ‘’Zander’’ to ichthyofauna
It is worth mentioning, that the species of fish ‘’Zander’’ (Sander lucioperca), which have not been found in Georgian rivers for decades have been currently released into the river Mashavera.
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Levan Davitashvili attended the fish releasing event. As noted by the Minister, the Ministry is actively working with the Wildlife Agency to return the endangered or already extinct species to the wild.
"We symbolically started returning of the species of fish ‘’Zander’’ into the river and we started this process from river Mashavera. The river Mashavera was so polluted, that no living organism has been actually found in it over the years. The Ministry has taken a very strict approach, while imposing certain obligations to the company RMG, which ultimately enabled us to eliminate the major critical sources of water pollution. This process was carried out with the involvement of civil activists and close cooperation with the company" Levan Davitashvili said.
Under the frame of the environmental liability, the company RMG, along with the magazine "Wildlife" is implementing a project, aiming to return the species of fish ‘’Zander’’ to ichthyofauna, into the rivers and lakes of Georgia.
The reintroduction of fish ‘’Zander’’ is carried out through support of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and ‘’Development and the Environment’’. Moreover, up to 1000 small sized fish ‘’Zander’’ were imported from Azerbaijan. For the first time, the fish ‘’Zander’’ was propagated by the Wildlife Agency and with the help of Georgian ichthyologists. It should be mentioned, that the Wildlife Agency is a sub-agency within the system of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.
Levan Davitashvili outlined, that the Ministry will further tighten the policy, especially in terms of sanctions, which will help to prevent the poaching.
"The Department of Environmental Supervision is actively detecting violations. Although, we admit, that community support is crucial. We hope, that every citizen will take more responsibility for nature protection" the Minister said.