In the Zhytomyr region, from August 1 to September 20, 2022, a ban on any crayfish fishing will be imposed on all reservoirs.
In addition to the fine, violators will pay damages in the amount of UAH 3,332 for each illegally harvested specimen of crayfish, reports the State Inspectorate of Polissky District on Facebook.
The ban is needed to preserve the crayfish population during the second molting period. During this period, the formation and strengthening of the new shell will take place, which can last from one to one and a half months.
During the molting period, crayfish shed their old carapace. Until the new integument hardens, crayfish can become easy prey for predators and poachers because they become sedentary.
The molting period of crayfish, even in one and the same reservoir, can change in different periods and depends on the weather, type of reservoir, age, sex, environmental temperature, nutrition, annual rhythms, etc.
Cancer molts 8 times during the first year of life, 5 times during the second, and then 1-2 times a year.
Crayfish fishing during the ban is a gross violation of environmental protection legislation, for which, in accordance with Part 4 of Article 85 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine, administrative responsibility is provided in the form of a fine of 340 to 680 hryvnias with the transfer of materials to judicial authorities.
"If you have noticed a violation of the fishing rules or the procedure for the purchase or sale of aquatic biological resources, please report it immediately to the telephone numbers of the Hotline: (068) 717 03 34 or (0412) 46-49-54," emphasized the SEI.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in Rivne and Zhytomyr regions during the spawning ban poachers caused damages in the total amount of more than 250 thousand hryvnias.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in the Vinnytsia, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv regions, top poachers caused a total amount of damage in one week: more than 1.3 million hryvnias.
