OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2009. The Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (SSI) held its end-of-the-year Coordinating Committee meeting in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin Island, Russia), reported the press-centre of Sakhalin Energy.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Sakhalin Oblast committees for Natural Resources and International Relations, the Departments for Education, Forests and Specially Protected Natural Areas, and by specialists of the Sakhalin Fishery Research Institute (SakhNIRO) and the Sakhalin Fishery Regulatory Authority (Sakhrybvod). Also present were representatives of the Sakhalin Association of Commercial Fisheries, oil and gas companies working on Sakhalin, the Island’s municipal districts, non-governmental organisations, environmentalists and others. The meeting approved the results achieved in 2009 in the international programme to protect the wild salmon residing in Sakhalin’s rivers.

Six projects have been successfully carried out in the past year as part of this international effort sponsored by Sakhalin Energy and the Wild Salmon Center. These included: “Watershed Council Network”; “Regional Monitoring Plan”; “Educational Program”, “Habitat Conservation”; “Sustainable Fisheries”, and “Sakhalin Salmon Park”.

The Sakhalin Salmon Initiative was launched in 2006, followed by an agreement signed in February 2008 between Sakhalin Energy (the operator of the Sakhalin-2 project) and the Wild Salmon Center on jointly funding the effort for four years in the amount of US 8.8 million.

Broad recognition of the success of the programme was received this year when the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (SSI) won first place at the 2009 Corporate Donor of Russia Awards in the category “Best programme demonstrating corporate philanthropy policy and social investment principles”. In 2010, the SSI will continue its conservation efforts in a number of focal areas to ensure that Sakhalin's wild salmon populations and their ecosystems enjoy the protection they deserve.

Notes to editors:
The Wild Salmon Center (US) is the only international conservation organisation working to protect wild Pacific salmon throughout their entire range. The WSC partners with governments, local communities, and businesses to create a network of healthy salmon ecosystems across the North Pacific. The Center’s work is based on the best available science and its conservation solutions support sustainable economies, regional cultures, and the great rivers of the Pacific Rim.

Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. is the operator of one of the world’s largest oil and gas integrated projects - Sakhalin-2, with the shareholding structure consisting of Gazprom (50% + 1 share), Royal Dutch Shell (27.5% - 1 share), Mitsui 12.5% and Mitsubishi 10%.

The SSI is managed by the Sakhalin-based SSI Center (an independent non-commercial organisation) and overseen by the SSI Coordinating Committee of organisations including the Sakhalin Oblast Administration, regional and federal agencies, academic institutions, business enterprises, commercial fishermen, indigenous communities, local and international NGOs.

The Sakhalin Salmon Initiative is separate from the Sakhalin-2 or other specific oil and gas projects on Sakhalin. SSI is not designed to address or replace Sakhalin Energy’s Health, Safety or Environmental obligations under Russian or international laws and agreements. This programme is aimed at conservation of wild salmon, a corner-stone resource for sustainable development and ecology of the Sakhalin Island.

Some of SSI's achievements in 2009 include:
Scientists and specialists continued to study salmon rivers in Sakhalin and surveyed rivers of the Dolinsk District. According to the established methodology, every year they select the three most distinctive rivers in different ecological regions and monitor river conditions throughout the project.

In 2008 the Eastern Sakhalin Fishery was pre-assessed according to the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) environmental certification criteria for sustainable salmon fisheries. This year, SSI began to compile a database required for completing environmental certification the fishery. In September 2009, the JSC “Gidrostroi” became the first company in Russia to obtain MSC certification for sustainable fisheries near Iturup Island. It is expected that the final phase of certification of the Eastern Sakhalin Fishery will be completed in 2011, so Sakhalin fishermen will be able to fully access international environmentally sensitive markets for salmon.

In 2009, six watershed councils, advisory bodies established in administrative districts of Sakhalin Oblast with support of SSI, carried out a valiant efforts to fight poaching - the main threat to Sakhalin salmon, as well as to restore salmon migration routes affected by severe storms in southern Sakhalin last summer.

SSI continues to actively work with youths on environmental programs. About 200 children participated in educational excursions where they studied salmon in their natural habitat. Full methodological packages for the Salmon Watch and Droplet educational programmes were distributed to 30 schools and 22 kindergartens. These ongoing programmes aim to help children learn about salmon, their habitat and role in the environment.

In 2009, SSI organised the first international environmental salmon camp in Portland, Oregon, as a part of the Education and Awareness project. Twenty-four teenagers from Russia (Sakhalin Island) and the US attended the camp.