On 15 July Tinkoff Bank and the Foundation «Help Needed» announced the results of the grant competition for non-profit organizations «Support Will Come».
Lake Baikal Foundation became one of the winners of the competition. The amount of the grant is 1 992 320 rubles and will be used to partially cover the costs of «The Baikal Without Fishnets» project, which Lake Baikal Foundation is implementing jointly with the Irkutsk Regional Environmental Non-Governmental Organization «Glubina Otvetstvennosti» (IREOO «Depth of Responsibility»).
Within the framework of the Baikal Without Fishnets project, a Circum-Baikal expedition will be carried out. Experts of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) will take part in the project’s expedition. Moreover, representatives of the Baikal Interregional Environmental Prosecutor’s office, inspectors of the Baikal national parks, media and civil society will join the expedition.
The expedition starts very soon – on 25 July and will continue till 5 August. The purpose of the expedition is to obtain reliable data on the fishnet pollution of the shoreline of Lake Baikal. As a result of the expedition, a map of fishnet pollution of the lake’s shoreline will be made, and abandoned and lost fishnets, which is found along the way will be extracted, analysed, and disposed. In addition, toxicological and microbiological laboratory analysis of biological, water and fishnet samples will be carried out. Some of the samples will be analysed on board, the other – in the laboratories of Saint-Petersburg Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPbRC RAS) and the Center for Laboratory Analysis and Technical Measurements (TSLATI).
All information obtained during the expedition, as well as the results of laboratory analysis, will be available for the public. The conclusions of a comprehensive analysis of the problem of fishnet pollution and proposals for solving this problem will be brought to the attention of key stakeholders and relevant government authorities.
The Foundation expresses its deepest gratitude to our followers who voted for our project!