NTEC goes ahead with the implementation of agreement with Rosrybolovstvo

Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company (NTEC, a subsidiary of Nornickel) started to regularly release valuable fish species into the Yenisey River under the agreement with the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo). Today, the first batch — 440,000 sturgeon fingerlings — was released into the Yenisey.

Evgeny Fedorov and Vitaly Molokov, head of the Yenisey Department of Rosrybolovstvo, are releasing the first fingerlings
Under the settlement agreement signed in 2022, the parties agreed to fully compensate for the damage caused to aquatic bioresources as a result of the HPP-3 accident in Norilsk in 2020. The document provides for the reproduction of about 9,000 tonnes of aquatic bioresources meaning the release into the water bodies of the Norilskaya-Pyasino lake and river system of 510 million fingerlings of valuable fish species: sturgeon, muksun, broad whitefish, whitefish, and nelma between 2033 and 2050. To reproduce fingerlings, NTEC is weighing the option of building sturgeon and whitefish breeding facilities. By 2033, NTEC plans to release 3 million Siberian sturgeon fingerlings into the Yenisey annually by purchasing them from the companies operating in the West Siberian Fishery Basin. The measures outlined in the agreement will fully restore aquatic bioresources and maintain them at levels maximising sustainable fishing and biodiversity.

NTEC goes ahead with the implementation of agreement with Rosrybolovstvo
“I am confident that joint efforts with Rosrybolovstvo to restore bioresources will be fruitful. The fish that will grow from these fingerlings and those that we are going to release in the future will still be valuable, but no longer rare. This will be a meaningful outcome of our cooperation,” commented Evgeny Fyodorov, Nornickel’s Vice President for Energy.

Nornickel has been, for years, fostering biodiversity and supporting rare and valuable species in the regions where it operates in an effort to reduce its negative environmental impact. The Company replenishes the populations of Siberian sturgeon, grayling, salmon, Arctic char, and other species as part of an extensive fish stocking programme and allocates dozens of millions of roubles to this cause annually. Since 2016, Nornickel has released about 2 million fingerlings into the Yenisey River alone.

Artificial fish stocking is crucial for preserving fish populations, as anthropogenic pressures continue to affect river ecosystems. Such environmental programmes most often involve the release of sturgeon, as this species are endangered and listed in Russia’s Red Data Book. Despite a ban on fishing, sturgeon numbers are recovering very slowly.

Ilya Shestakov, Head of the Federal Agency for Fishery, commented:

“Rosrybolovstvo will be involved in ongoing monitoring and control of the aquatic bioresources and the ecology of their habitat. It is my firm belief that together we will be able to deliver on our plans that we have set by entering into this agreement, and fish populations and the aquatic ecosystem will be fully restored.”