More than UAH 2.7 million sought through court over poaching in Mykolaiv region

The Mykolaiv District Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to recover more than 2.7 million hryvnias through the courts for illegally catching fish near the village of Pisky in Mykolaiv District. The State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District reported the lawsuit over poaching on the Southern Buh River.

According to case documents, in 2023, a man used a homemade wooden boat and three prohibited fishing nets. Their total length was 300 meters.

His catch included:

• roach — 1,363 fish;
• crucian carp — 96 fish;
• zander — 5 fish;
• perch — 4 fish;
• white bream — 50 fish;
• Black Sea sprat — 130 fish.

In September 2026, the court exempted the man from criminal liability because the statute of limitations had expired. The environmental inspectorate’s civil claim, filed as part of the criminal proceedings, was left without consideration. The damage caused was never compensated.

In Odesa Oblast, environmental inspectors estimated the damage caused by poaching at more than 12.5 million hryvnias for the period from October 16 to 22. Meanwhile, only about 855,000 hryvnias was recovered during that period.

We previously reported:

• Woman ordered to pay more than 145,000 hryvnias for an illegal catch in Mykolaiv Oblast
• A goby worth its weight in gold: Mykolaiv fisherman left without fish or gear and with a million-hryvnia debt
• Caught more than fish: a 200,000-hryvnia catch during spawning season could mean up to three years in prison
• Instead of fish soup, a court case: two men caught crayfish worth half a million hryvnias
• Fishing worth 112,000 hryvnias: Mykolaiv Oblast resident faces criminal charges