Often, in recent years, Bojan fishermen come home empty-handed from night fishing, but the reason for empty nets and "dry" hooks does not lie in a lack of skill, skill or experience - their nightmare is organized groups of poachers from neighboring Albania that darken the river's fish stock. not shying away from doing so even in waters that penetrate deeply into the territory of Montenegro.
This was confirmed to "Vijesti" by several fishermen from Ulcinj who asked that their names not be mentioned (identities known to the editorial office) due to possible retaliation by poachers from Albania.
"Albanian fishermen also suffer with them, and after every report to the police about illegal hunting, they find their vessels wrecked. It is not impossible that the poachers have connections on our side as well," one of the fishermen told "Vijesta".
In the last ten years, he says, several groups of poachers have been formed that hunt along the river, often up to the very fork and common mouth with, as they claim, the blessing of individuals from the Albanian fleet, that is, the local border police in Bojana.
"Among them, a certain verse stands out in particular. Due to fishing with explosives in our waters a decade and a half or two ago, he spent ten days in Spuž. But when he came out, he avoided explosives. Since then, it has been modernized, and today it catches huge quantities of fish, several hundred kilograms in one batch, using the so-called inventre, which convert electric energy from the battery from 12 volts to 220 volts, completely silently. His vessel, like other poachers, also has an electric outboard motor, which makes the hunt completely silent", claims our fisherman.
Ajet is allegedly in very close ties with the police at the Puljaj watchtower, which is near the fork.
"From that lookout, he lowers his boat into the river, then goes a few hundred meters upstream where he docks. There he takes equipment for poaching, and quite often also associates. After the catch, we know by heart, the return to the guardhouse follows only in the reverse order. "That poacher is so brazen that we often find him in the Šaška channel, which is deep in our territory," he said.
Another fisherman remembers that while he was fishing at night "on a stick" at the entrance to the Šaska Canal, he suddenly noticed that the fish started to jump out of the water uncontrollably. Immediately afterwards he noticed an Albanian vessel right next to our coast and poachers using electricity and killing fish.
"They didn't even pay attention to my complaints, but continued poaching," he said, stating that it was a time when our vessel did not sail because the vessels were allegedly unregistered or broken, which the poachers claim is the maximum used on the stretch from the common confluence to Reč.
"Both before and now, Ajet leaves a companion in front of our watchtower to inform him when the members of our fleet set sail so that they would not accidentally find him in our waters," he says.
Our fishermen say that the Albanian fishermen admit to them that they are powerless because, as they claim, the poachers cooperate with the police.
"Whenever they rebelled, the next day they would find their boats damaged. So they, like us, put all their hopes in our sailing unit", they say.
According to experts, apart from adults, younger fish also suffer from fishing currents, so one can only guess how much of a toll Bojana is paying with uncontrolled and illegal fishing.
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