Frontier Service Held Anti-Poaching Exercise in Caspian Sea

04.04.2012 Dagestan Branch of Russian FSB Frontier Service conducted operational preventive activity in littoral waters of the Caspian Sea. During the exercise, personnel practiced professional skills in protection of Caspian Sea biological resources and state control of this activity.

Border guards started the exercise after training alert, briefing, and testing of shipboard systems. The task unit consisted of coast guard patrol ships Stavropol, Noyabrsk, and Sochi. Traditionally, the ships departed to the strains of "Farewell of Slavianka" [Russian patriotic march].

All frontiersmen take the sea twice a year, in April and September, in the fish breeding periods. That is when poachers are most active. Coast guard is tasked to detain small-size poaching vessels and arrest violators of Russian borders. Today poachers are equipped with up-to-date boats, and it is hard to compete with them in speed, complain border guards. Special fast patrol boat with max speed of 50 knots helps to settle this problem.

Caspian Sea's biological resources grow smaller year by year. Perhaps, that is why catching of two or more sturgeons is the ground for criminal case. For example, frontiersmen expropriated about 7 tons of illegally caught sea products in the last year. Normally, poachers are deprived of boats and nets, and the caught fish is let out.

Such activities are conducted in fishing season. Each ship patrols assigned area; patrolling zone starts from southern border on Azerbaijan and goes along the whole Caspian coast. All patrol ships are manned only by warrant officers and has arms on board. Weapons are used in extreme case during protection of state border. Depending on the mission, frontiersmen spend 7-30 days at sea.