Dove with a mask to catch crayfish: illegal harvesting in the Mykolaiv region caused nearly UAH 256,000 in damage to the ecosystem

Using a mask, in the waters of the Southern Bug river, the offender caught 77 crayfish, causing damage to the state in the amount of over 250 thousand hryvnias. Police investigators documented the offense and returned the biological resources to the water. For the committed act the man faces up to three years of restriction of liberty.

During the day on 25 August, a police officer of the Pervomaisk community, during a joint operation with ecologists and representatives of the fish protection patrol opposite the city beach of the Southern Bug river, exposed a 46-year-old offending fisherman. Using a diving mask, the man was illegally harvesting river crayfish.

Police seized fishing gear and 77 river crayfish from the offender. The seized biological resources were returned to the water.

According to preliminary estimates, the damage to the ecosystem amounted to almost 256 thousand hryvnias.

On this fact, investigators of the Pervomaisk District Police Department have opened a pre-trial investigation under part 1 of Article 249 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “Illegal engagement in fishing, hunting or other aquatic resource extraction.” The article’s sanction provides for punishment of up to three years of restriction of liberty. The pre-trial investigation is currently ongoing.

The police remind that illegal harvesting of aquatic biological resources causes significant harm to the environment and carries criminal liability.

Dear citizens, if you witness poaching, please immediately report it to the hotline 102. Pervomaisk District Police Department

Source: Mykolaiv Region Police.

Previously we wrote:

• Shrimps, gobies and crabs: illegal catch exposed in the Black Sea in Mykolaiv region
• Caught not fish but trouble: in Mykolaiv region a hapless fisherman faced penalties exceeding 700 thousand
• Spawning ban? Never heard of it: poachers had 83 nets, 7 vessels and their catch seized
• Three poachers caught on the Southern Bug: catch worth 322 thousand hryvnias during the spawning ban