Today, The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law "On Fauna" (re Strengthening of Poaching Counteraction) (Reg. No. 6458-1). The bill was submitted by People´s Deputies M.Tomenko, A.Semynoha, V.Danylenko, and O.Horoshkevych on the initiative of several environmental organizations. The Law prohibits manufacture, sale and use of poaching tools, and import of traps, electric fishing systems (electric fishing rods) and synthetic nets in Ukraine. The Law prohibits manufacture, sale and use of poisonous and anaesthetic agents, barbed, leadening and trap-like tools of catching, electric fishing systems (electric fishing rod), explosives, bird lime and synthetic nets. The Cabinet of Ministers ratifies the exhaustive list of prohibited tools and the procedure of their confiscation.
When the bill was scrutinized in the session hall, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that import of poaching tools, especially synthetic nets, electric fishing rods, and trap-like tools of catching, should have been banned a long time ago, following the practice of the European states. He informed that nearly 100 thousand poaching tools are annually confiscated in Ukraine. Illegal fisherman possess up to 10 million prohibited fishing tools. M.Tomenko stressed that according to experts, poachers catch 197 thousand tons of fish, which almost equals the commercial catch of 200 thousand tons annually.
The subject parliamentary committee and the Ministry adjusted the law between the first and the second readings, allowing the organization licensed for commercial catch of fish to purchase the fishing gear. "Thus, we will not stop the commercial catch of fish, but cease the uncontrolled massive destruction of fish and water bodies in Ukraine," the Deputy Chairman stressed.
284 People´s Deputies voted in favour of the Law.