Nord Stream 2 Starts Fish Juveniles Release in Russia

Nord Stream 2, the developer of the twin gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, has performed the release of brown trout fish juveniles under the control of the Northwest branch of the Federal Fishery Agency, Fishery Inspection and Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage.

In total 146,000 Atlantic salmon juveniles and 37,000 brown trout juveniles will be released this year.

An assessment of the impact of the pipeline project and a set of compensatory measures in the form of the release of valuable fish juveniles were approved as part of the project documentation. The first release of 170,000 juveniles of valuable fish species took place in 2018.

Juveniles of valuable fish species are being grown at Luzhskiy and Nevskiy hatcheries of FGBU Glavrybvod facilities in the Leningrad region. The quality and average weight are determined and agreed by the Federal Fishery Agency.

As part of the compensatory measures for temporary damage to fisheries during construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Russian waters the developer will perform releases into the Neva, Vruda and Peypii rivers.

Alexander Antsulevich, environmental specialist in Russia Nord Stream 2, said: “The fishery and environmental studies in the Narva Bay for Nord Stream 2 were the most extensive and detailed in the history of such studies. Based on these studies, Nord Stream 2 has developed a wide range of measures to compensate for potential impacts. Reproduction of biological resources in the region where we are working will have a positive effect on the preservation of biodiversity of the Baltic Sea.”

Before construction started, Nord Stream 2 with the assistance of the scientific institutes in Russia studied the condition of aquatic biological resources in the Narva Bay and Eastern part of the Gulf of Finland along the pipeline route and any possible impacts of construction.

The results of these studies have shown that the impact of construction activities will be local and temporary. When construction is complete the compensatory annual release will continue during the operational phase in line with the conclusion of the Federal Agency for Fishery.