The group for the protection of carp accused the administration of the Skadar Lake National Park of allowing poaching in the protected area during the last hunting ban, which ended on May 15.
The NGO claims that they did not want the multi-year problem to be solved in NP, so they broke off cooperation with the Carp Protection Group after only three months of agreeing on joint activities.
The company NP denies these allegations and claims in its response to the "News" that the agreement on cooperation, which they signed in February with the aim of joint fight against poaching and publicly boasted about the quality of that cooperation, was actually terminated by the Carp Protection Group.
The group for the protection of carp recently sent a letter to "Vijesti" in which they state that, despite the hunting ban from March 15 to May 15, the fish kill continued unhindered on Lake Skadar. As evidence, they have attached numerous photos and video material, which show a large amount of caught carp, which they claim was caught during the spawning season. They accused Nenad Ivanović, the director of the Skadar Lake National Park, and Elvira Klica, the director of the National Parks of Montenegro (NPCG), of illegal activities on Lake Skadar.
"The poaching network is made up of fishermen, gamekeepers, NP leaders... Disciplinary punishments against gamekeepers and other employees from the NP supervision service are not processed, and we believe that only Klica and Ivanović are responsible for that," the Carp Protection Group states.
They said that since the signing of the agreement, their volunteers have been patrolling and monitoring the lake almost constantly.
"The work of the volunteers was hindered and obstructed by employees of the NP protection service. "Volunteers experienced various inconveniences, insults, even their lives were endangered several times due to an accidental or intentional mistake of the fishkeeper," claims the NGO.
They told "Vijesti" that they had filed several reports due to poaching.
"Every day we went on patrols with game wardens, who later physically attacked us, because they didn't like us being there. We informed the administration about everything, but without success. They filed disciplinary charges against the employees, but then returned them to work," claims the Carp Protection Group.
They also said that the "Skadar Lake" National Park promised them fishkeeping licenses and uniforms, as well as paid fuel for the boats, but that they did not receive any of that.
Dissatisfied with the cooperation and relationship between the management of NP and NPCG, in early May they organized a protest in Podgorica, which, they claim, was the trigger for the management of the company that manages protected goods to terminate the agreement on cooperation with that NGO, three months after signing it.
The NPCG denied these allegations and said that the agreement was terminated by the Carp Protection Group. They also claim that the NGO did not inform the company's management about everything beforehand.
"Without prior notice, warning or any request for a meeting to explain possible disagreements... that NGO terminated cooperation with NPCG," claims the company.
When members of the Group for the Protection of Carp claimed that they had been promised fisher's identification cards, they said that they sent the request to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, but that they have not received a response from Milutin Simović's department to date.
"We believe that the termination of cooperation has devalued the work of those members of this NGO who successfully carried out activities to protect the fish stock with the Protection Service in an honorable manner... We expect cooperation to continue with the largest number of members who have sincere intentions towards the protection of natural values", they said. are from NPCG.
Since the beginning of the year, as they said from that company, there were 195 patrols on the water. 14 reports against 21 persons were submitted to the Inspectorate, the Basic Prosecutor's Office processed three reports against unknown persons, and two reports against four persons were submitted to the Police Directorate.
Since the beginning of the year, the Protection Service of NP "Skadarsko jezero" has temporarily seized 516 fishing nets, 16 vessels, 13 outboard motors (13), six fishing rods, five probes, seven electrical converters, eight fuel tanks, one underwater rifle, a diving suit , bottle, mask and diving weights. Six gas bottles, 11 accumulators, nine torches, five gas lamps and five accumulator lamps were confiscated.
NPCG said that compared to the same period last year, more means and tools for catching fish were temporarily seized this year, and that more persons caught in illegal activities were prosecuted.
The inspection issued orders for the collection of 14.500 euros
From January to May 1, the inspection issued 21 misdemeanor orders in the total amount of 14.500 euros, the NPCG said. In the same period, four misdemeanor charges were filed and hundreds of kilograms of fish were confiscated.
The Tourist Inspectorate carried out 32 inspections on Lake Skadar in nine days in May, issued three misdemeanor fines in the amount of EUR 900, five misdemeanor reports of EUR 3.100, and one criminal report.
Bonus video:
