Catfish over 50kg caught in Polesie State Radioecological Reserve

KHOINIKI DISTRICT, 16 April (BelTA) - Commercial fishing has become one of the experimental and economic activities in the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, the reserve’s director Aleksei Tishkovets said during a press tour dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power disaster, BelTA has learned.

According to Aleksei Tishkovets, the Pripyat River is rich in fish, including catfish, bream, pike, silver carp and asp. “We catch up to 30 tonnes of fish annually. The Pripyat River stretches about 72km through the reserve’s grounds. Fishing is currently paused because of the spawning season, but in May our team will start fishing again. The fish in the Pripyat is clean. We only fish in the river, we do not go into old riverbeds or other areas,” he said.

“The fishing team works day and night. By morning, we collect the catch. For example, there have been cases where we took hundreds of kilos of catfish over a night in September. Once, we caught a catfish of nearly 50 kg. Four people had to move it,” Aleksei Tishkovets said, describing local records.

On 15-16 April, bloggers and journalists participated in a press tour across Gomel Oblast to see how life has changed in the affected areas, 40 years after the Chernobyl disaster. The program featured the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, a breeding horse nursery, an apiary, a cheese-making facility, a hydraulic equipment plant, and other sites.

Photos by Sergei Kholodilin/BelTA