The Aral Sea and its Fishery

The Danish Society for a Living Sea

June 1998 

Preface

The circumstances causing this report.

Background

Kazakstan

The Aral Sea before 1960

The Aral Sea after 1960

From Kattegat To Aral Sea - a fishery project

The previous history

The project

Course in Denmark

The project and the media

The 1996 Trial Fishery

Bibliography

Evaluation

Perspectives

Appendices:

This report is based on the concrete experiences we have had in working with the Aral Sea since 1991, and hence we have a personal engagement in several of the problems, the report should describe. The knowledge founding the sections on natural- and cultural history has been gathered during the same period, using among other sources, the articles and reports describing the Aral Sea and the life that has been and still is conducted in the area around the sea. The vast amount of information available has been confronted with the factual circumstances, as we have encountered them, and with the numerous discussions we have had with the people, we have been working with, in Denmark and in Kazakstan.

The purpose of this report is to formulate the leitmotifs in the fishery- and development project "From Kattegat to Aral Sea - a fishery project", and it is an attempt to introduce light and shade into the many journalistic and scientific articles and reports that have been written on the Aral Sea. The journalistic-scientific manifold of information on the Aral Sea and the people living by and with it, might seem incomprehensible and difficult to take in a general view of, among other reasons because the origin of much data is to be found in the Soviet history and science. Along the way we have had to revise our knowledge on a number of factual particulars, but it is not our aim, however, to archaeologically cross check the existing reports and articles in order to create a new and better hermeneutic summary of the picture, they may describe. Instead, we have treated the statistic and scientific information as elements in a larger story, concerning real people and a real sea (still alive!). If we have cross checked our information, it should therefore be thus understood: Our accumulated experience is a web of work, travelling and reading, continuously intervening and crossing each other.

Henrik Jøker Bjerre

Kurt Bertelsen Christensen

The Non Governmental organised (NGO) project "From Kattegat to Aral Sea" (1996-1998) should in 1997 carry out a midway evaluation. The report contains a separate section with the evaluation results . In this we saw the occasion of meeting a need, so far unfulfilled - to promote the project through a report that provides an overall view of the area, we are dealing with, of the experiences we have had, and of the perspectives of this project.

• To give a short introduction to the recent history of Kazakstan and particularly of the Aral Sea.
• To create an overall view of the project sequence, since it started out in mid 1994.
• To draw the perspectives of the project in order to obtain a basis for the discussions on the question: whether the project should be continued and extended till 2001.
• To discuss the sketch of a future project.

The report is motivated by the fact that the Kazakstani and Danish partners at the present stage agree that the project should be continued and possibly extended. For this purpose, an expert evaluation is to be carried out throughout 1998. This analysis should clarify the conditions of a larger three year project, beginning in mid 1999. The 1998-phase is also intended to maintain the democratic development in the area and to strengthen and enlarge the co-operation between Denmark and Kazakstan in accordance with the NGO concept. The results of this work are to be documented in a substantial "project document". This document could motivate the continuation of the project, at what level and in what shape this should happen, or it could motivate the ending of the project.

In case the project is continued, the investigation can form the project description as regards to further applications to donors. If the project is closed, the investigation serves two purposes:

• An extended evaluation of the project.
• A heightened understanding for the closing of the project.

Geography and demography: Covering an area of more than 2,700,000 km², Kazakstan is the largest of the five Central Asian countries. Before Kazakstan gained its independence in 1991, it was the second largest republic of the USSR, counting 16 million inhabitants, 8 million of whom were ethnic Kazak. Since 1991, the Russian and German population in Kazakstan have decreased slightly, but the Kazak hasn't grown at the same pace. From 1992-1994 the total population went down by app. 200,000 and the emigration continues. The citizens of Kazakstan are now termed "Kazakstani", while the ethnic Kazak are termed "Kazak".

The larger country sides of Kazakstan in the Northern and Western parts from the East coast of the Caspian Sea, are barren step and semi deserts, and only in the far South East we find the natural fertile part of the country, bordering China and Mongolia and separated from them by the Altai mountains. In the South East is situated the former capital of Almaty (in the Russian era: Alma-Ata). Almaty now has close to 1,500,000 inhabitants, as opposed to 1,100,000 in 1991. In 1998, however, Kazakstani powerful ruler Nursultan Nasarbaev appointed Akmola (former Celinograd) new capital of Kazakstan. Akmola is situated in the Central Northern part of the country, and in 1993 counted a mere 277,000 inhabitants.

Abroad, Kazakstan is widely known especially because of the Soviet nuclear testing area near Semipalatinsk, and the Soviet, now Russian, central space agency Baikonur, situated on the step near the Aral Sea, the drying out of which has caused global concern and attention.

Agricultural production: Beginning already in the inter-war period, an intense agricultural production was established along the Syr Darya river, which - together with the Southern river Amu Darya - supplies the Aral Sea with water. This production consists mainly in wheat for bread, and barley for animal fodder. Furthermore, a smaller production of corn, rice and potatoes exists. The agriculture is completely dependent on the water from the rivers, which is led to the fields through systems of canals and river dams.

The production was structured in the USSR era around big state collective farms, the so-called sovkozes. This agricultural production and the cotton production in Uzbekistan along the river Syr Darya, are the main reasons for the serious problems of the Aral Sea.

In order to understand the situation of Kazakstan today, it is important to note the following:

Before the area, we today know as Kazakstan, was included in the Russian Empire and soon thereafter in the USSR, it was inhabited by nomads. Unlike the Russians, who mainly passed from a feudal system with towns and villages into socialism, the Kazak passed from nomadic families, tribes and clans into the collectivisation's of socialism. The collectivised Kazakstan was largely not created by Kazaks, but by Russians and Germans a.o. The present transition in Kazakstan from socialism to capitalism is especially influenced by this previous history.

The Kazakstani, as inhabitants of a multi-cultural state, do not decide the development in Kazakstan today - the Kazak do. And now the Kazak with their nomadic tradition have to decide how to create a civil society. To some Western observers, the process in Russia and the Baltic countries of subdividing the vast collective farms into smaller private farms, is forwarded at low pace. But the Baltic can realistically hope to regain their former property if their documentation is valid, and we are likely to see something like that in Russia. The Kazak have no property to claim, and therefore have to decide on a national level, whether and how they want to conduct agricultural production at all.

When analysts say they are somewhat surprised that things haven't turned out worse than they have in the former Soviet republics, there are many ways of explaining this. In Kazakstan, one of the explanations is the strong solidarity within families and tribes. No matter how big and how much parted a family may be, there are indisputable obligations between all its members. If one family member earns a good salary, the whole family benefits from it. [This also goes for meat production: the family members in the country see to it that the family in town receives meat.]

The following shows something about the set back in production. The wheat production has gone down from 20 million ton/year to less than 10 million t/year. Barley from 10 million t/year to 6 million t/year. In all, the crops have undergone a set back of more than 50 %. The animal production however, has not seen similar set backs. The country still counts 1,500,000 horses, 9,000,000 cattle, 35,000,000 sheep and goats and around 40,000 camels. The set back in crops is explained by the fact that Kazakstan no longer provides the USSR with wheat. The relatively stable animal production is explained by the fact that the meat has always been meant to go into the Kazakstani market.

The fishery, which mainly takes place in the Caspian Sea, the Balhaz Lake and the many rivers, is also undergoing alterations, even if not as vast as in agriculture. Around 70,000 tons are caught a year.

To illustrate the general state of affairs, one could also mention that the number of passengers on the Kazakstani railways increased by 100,000 from 1991-1993, and has continued to go up, while in the same period the amount of cargo has gone down by 50 %, and continues to go down.

It is thus still an open question whether the Kazak want to take over an agricultural production that can provide more than the home market with crops etc., and it is also an open question whether the Kazakstani, meaning mainly Russians, want to do that and will be allowed to.

Foreign policy: The main interests in terms of the foreign policy of Kazakstan concern Russia. In December 1991, Kazakstan was the last Soviet republic to be independent, and the orientation towards Russia and even Europe is significant. However, the foreign policy and the security policy of the new republic are still to some extent dictated by the historical relationships to China. The Kazak have often fought the Russians in North, but the main conflicts have been with the Chinese in the South. Still now, the Kazak consider China to be the most important thread to their security, even if various agreements have been negotiated with China first of all in trade business, lately concerning Kazakstani oil, which is the most important object of foreign investment in Kazakstan at present day.

Economy: The national currency is Tenge which is exchanged by US $ by approximately 75 Tenge to $ 1. The Kazakstani national economy has met a dramatic set back since 1991. In 1994, the national product per capita was $ 1,110. Towards the end of 1995, a slight increase in economy took place, and the national product is now expected to be approximately $ 1,200 - $ 1,300 per capita.

The Aral Sea was fourth among the largest lakes in the world, situated app. 600 km east of the Caspian Sea. The borderline between Kazakstan in the North and Uzbekistan in the South divides the Sea in the middle in a North-West/South-East direction. The sea covered an area of app. 64,000 km² with an average depth of 30m. In the deepest parts, the depths reached 60 m. Through the island, now peninsula, Kok Aral, the Aral Sea has a natural divide in two parts: the Southern Big Aral, and the Northern Small Aral. The Small Aral then covered app. 13,000 km².

The Aral Sea is a step/desert lake situated in a strong continental climate, with a variation of temperature from 40 degrees plus in the summer time to 30 degrees below zero in the winter. The summer heat caused (and still causes) a vast evaporation, and the evaporation was the reason for the good climate around Aral before the drying out of the sea. The sea was like a very big oasis in the desert. The water balance was maintained because of the vast supply of water from the two rivers Syr Darya and Amu Darya. The two rivers form the only water supply running into the Aral Sea, and they both get their water from the mountains in the East, and from the enormous areas they run through. The river water is fresh with a salinity below 0.7 per mille, while the water in the Aral Sea was brackish with a salinity at app. 9 per mille. The salt in the Aral Sea was caused partly by the vast evaporation, and partly by the fact that the ground water in and around the Aral Sea is salted. (The salted ground water might be explained by an apparent total dry out of the lake, hundreds of years ago.) The lake shores were encircled by tight forests of reed and rush, sometimes stretching several kilometres into the sea. In the sea, a variety of species of fish were found and caught, including species that only existed in the Aral Sea, and among those the famous Aral Sturgeon. Around the sea and in the river delta, big populations of Saika (an antelope), wild boar, wolf, fox, musk rat, turkey, goose and duck were found, and the wildlife had good conditions of living in the sparsely populated areas.

The fishery in the Small Aral before 1960: In the Northern part of the Small Aral is situated the port of Aralsk, which, counting around 35,000 inhabitants, is the biggest town close to Aral. As a port, Aralsk was a well functioning town with a shipbuilding yard, fishery industry and ferry service. In the ship yard, ships of 50-500 ton were build for cargo and fishery on Aral. The Aralsk railway station is situated on the track from Moscow to Tashkent and Almaty, which is the most important railway connection in Central Asia. Cargo from the railway used to be trans-shipped to cargo boats and shipped off southwards to the port of Muynak in Karakalpakistan, Uzbekistan (a region that was part of the Kazak area before the USSR and which is therefore mainly inhabited by Kazak).

The fishery in the Aral Sea had an annual catch of more than 50,000 ton of high quality fish. 13 different species were caught, including carp, SANDART, sturgeon, catfish, and a species of herring. Fishing was the most important profession in the area, and the realisation of fish in the entire Soviet Union meant a stable economical development around the Aral Sea, which meant that it was relatively affluent, when compared to the rest of the USSR. Since hunting, agriculture and live stock breeding were also well functioning, the area was self-sufficient in victuals, and through the realisation of fish, it was supplied with energy and raw materials for a.o. the ship-building industry.

Around the Small Aral were situated 19 smaller and larger fishery communities. These were either self-governing in collective societies (kolhozes) or attached to the main fishery co-operative (sovhoz) in the area. While the sovhozes were directly controlled by the state, the kolhozes were more self-organised in electing leaders and choosing fields of activity.

A kolhoz: Djambul kolhoz is situated app. 60 km west of Aralsk. 1,500 people used to live here. In the natural harbour situated a few kilometers from the village, 12 big fishing vessels were lying at anchor - and they still are, but now in the desert sand. Djambul did not own these vessels, but a number of smaller boats and barges. The fishery was, and still is, vital to Djambul, since it - unlike in the villages near the Syr Darya at the east coast of the sea - is impossible to conduct agriculture. Besides the fishery, Djambul has a production of live stock, mainly horses and camels. Some vegetables can be grown in the small gardens within the areas of the individual houses. The houses are encircled by fences protecting patios with gardens and animals.

The kolhozes themselves took care of the schooling, polio clinics were common, and in some cases even smaller hospitals.

The fishing from the big vessels was conducted at sea, and the fish was sold to the factory in Aralsk. The crew on the vessels was from Djambul and elsewhere, but besides this fishery, a small scale fishery took place, especially in the winter time and in the early spring. In these periods, the climate made it possible to keep the fish, and a special fishing technique on ice was developed , using camels as tractive force (in the severe winter, parts of Small Aral are covered by ice.) The fish that wasn’t consumed locally, was sold to the fishery industry in Aralsk. Fish was as important as meat in the households at the Aral Sea.

A sovhoz: Aralrybprom ("The Aral Fish Factory"), as - like numerous state co-operatives - founded in the mid twenties. The state co-operatives became the most usual forms of organisation of industry and trade in the USSR. The sovhozes were characterised by the leadership of general directors appointed from Moscow. This meant that the directors didn’t necessarily have any connection to the area, where the co-operative was situated, nor any specific knowledge about the production performed. He could be from anywhere, and his appointment was closely linked to his status at the present time.

In Aralsk, Aralrybprom was the largest enterprise, employing several thousands, and forming an indispensable basis of a number of villages, dependant on fishery. Karateren is such a village in the river delta close to the shore, counting around 2,000 inhabitants. The main occupation in the village was fishery, which was controlled by Aralrybprom through agreements with the village administration. The village elects its own mayor (the Akim), but in Karateren as in similar villages, the real power was in the hands of the local director of fishery.

In the central town of Aralsk, the power was mainly centred around the general director of Aralrybprom, and until the mid seventies it was a sign of progress to be appointed general director of the co-operative. Since the collapse of the fishery however, this appointment gradually transformed into a signal of movement downwards in the hierarchy…

In the inter-war period, agricultural production along the Syr Darya was prepared and initiated, with tragic consequences to the Kazak nomadic culture. The Stalin collectivisation programme struck the Kazak harshly, and it is estimated that 1 million Kazak died or fled the area to move to the countries south of Kazakstan.

The Kazak, who remained, did not have the requested knowledge and tradition in agriculture, which is why experts had to be brought from outside. In all, more than 10 million people were moved to Central Asia, many of them by force, for political reasons, and the most of them to Kazakstan that still now counts around 8 million non-Kazak.

After the Second World War, the wheat production was dramatically increased, which was made possible only by the digging of numerous canals and the building of dams across the river. The canals were dug in very simple manners, by simply digging the main and secondary canals directly in the sand. None seemed to notice the importance of establishing pipes or at least cementing the main canals. Draining the fields wasn’t a subject either.

In the season, floodgates were closed, and the water was led directly into the fields, a system which causes a tremendous loss of water. Less than 10 % of the water taken in was directly beneficial to the crop. The rest disappeared down the sandy soil or evaporated.

In the early fifties, the increasing isolation of the USSR made the great union consider it a strategic aim to become self-sufficient in everything, including cotton and victuals. To Kazakstan this meant increased focus in wheat production for bread and vodka.

President Nikita Khrustjev (1953-1964) was personally fascinated by an agriculture in no need of humus, and which could be conducted directly on sandy soil, using only vast supplies of water. Kazakstan and Uzbekistan both covered vast areas of sandy soil, and through both republics ran rivers with immense amounts of water. A programme was launched to make the USSR self-sufficient in wheat and cotton. Cotton needs a warm climate, which is why the cotton production was placed in Uzbekistan along the banks of the Amu Darya. Production of wheat, barley, millet and rice was mainly placed along the Syr Darya river in Kazakstan.

From the mid fifties and up until the late eighties, the total supply of water from the two rivers to the Aral Sea, dropped from 25 km3/year to less than 5 km3/year. 20 km3 is a lot of water… To compare, it is worth noticing that Denmark with its 5 million inhabitants, in households, industry and agriculture uses 0.915 km3 a year (1995). This enormous set back in water supply had catastrophic consequences to the Aral Sea. Beginning in the early sixties, dramatic changes in the catches took place, both in amounts and in the composition of the catches. Shallow areas that used to be sailing water, now had to be avoided. Fishing communities started digging fairways for the vessels deeper, and in consequence of the decreasing water levels, artificial canals were dug out.

But the shore kept receding, the vessels were stranded in the shallow water, and today they are lying helplessly in the desert that replaced the sea, many places more than 60 km away from the present shore. The salinity kept increasing, and the fishery went down until it finally seized existing completely.

 In 1975, fishing stopped in the Small Aral, and Aralsk was a port without a port. The ferry service stopped, the ground water salinity increased, hunting went down, and the climate started undergoing changes, among other reasons because the big forests of reed and rush disappeared, when the water drew back.

In order to maintain the employment in fishing industry, frozen fish was introduced from other parts of the USSR, such as the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. This supply stopped with the Kazakstani independence in 1991.

In the years following 1975, a major "aid"-programme directed by the Kazak vice-minister Tairov aimed at supporting the families around Aral in moving them from the villages in the new desert along the former coast-line. The fishermen were moved to places like Balkhas, Kapchagay, Alakol, Zaysan, all lakes situated 1000-1500 km east of Aral. Others were moved west to the Caspian Sea, and the rest - app. 50 % of a total of 10-15,000 people - were settled in the state collective farms along the Syr Darya.

17 fishery communities in the Small Aral region were abandoned. Cemeteries - an important part of the local culture through generations - were abandoned, and even the houses in many villages disappeared rapidly because of the new climate with sandstorms of increasing power and frequency.

 The Aral Region was declared an "ecological zone", which (to Europeans paradoxically) means an area of ecological disaster, and everybody was offered an "ecological disaster addition" to the salary, pension etc. Since 1991, the disaster "bonus" - consisting in products and money - has been the responsibility of the new government in Almaty, but the aid is rarely paid, and since Aralsk has no significant circulation of money, salaries in Aralsk are very unstable. Only the civil servants in the city council and the police receive fairly stable payments.

Until 1975 the area was relatively affluent, but since then the Aralsk region has been dependent on emergency aid, and today the UN considers the region to be the poorest region in Kazakstan. The little income that reaches the area is mainly from the salt production and from international aid programmes. The weak money economy has caused problems for schooling and social services. The old people of Aralsk frequently gather on the city council square to press the administration for their pensions.

The visible initiatives are mainly small scale trading in the streets, in the market and in cafés. The main activity in Aralsk seems to be moving around less and less values, since the money, resources or initiatives needed to attract values from other places do not exist. Measured by amounts, there are more goods in the market in Aralsk now than in 1991, but these goods do not represent increased affluence, on the contrary - since the goods are of a low quality, usually imported from China or Iran.

The severely reduced fishery production (from 20,000 t/year to 1,500 t/year) is still controlled from above, but now mainly by in-effective leaders, who do not decide where, when and how fishing is conducted. The little fishery that still exists, is conducted in wintertime and in the early spring, because the cold is needed to keep the fish, and when it is to be sold. The fishery takes place in small lakes east of Aral and in the Syr Darya river itself. In the spring and autumn, some fishing brigades are situated at the Balkhas Lake and at other lakes in eastern Kazakstan. Recently, however, this possibility has also been denied the Aral fishermen, since authorities in for instance Balkhas have denied them access to the lake.

The catches are not realised for money, but changed to flour, gasoline, margarine etc. (in October 1996, the fishermen told us that they hadn’t seen actual money as salary since 1993). Sometimes the fishermen receive provisions for their work, sometimes nothing. The main buyer of the fish is the space agency centre Baikonur, where 70,000 Russian military troops and workers are situated. From Baikonur gasoline, engines and margarine are offered in exchange of the fish. Some fish is smoked and sold on the railway track. On this railway, which is very important to the town, ordinary people are selling dried and smoked fish and a variety of other products. The train trades mean that a considerable amount of women and children on a daily basis are trying to realise their goods to travellers with a limited ability to buy. In this respect you could say that the families within the previous six years have had to concentrate less on schooling and households, and seem to be passing into a situation where the men "organise" the goods, and the women and children are trying to realise them. It is a common joke in Kazakstan that the independence in 1991 really demarked the "independence from salary": since then it has been up to each individual to earn enough to survive.

Aralsk and Little Aral today: It should be beyond discussion that the negative development described above, should be changed. One of the ways to change direction is to create a focus on the natural and human resources that do exist in the area:

The area is rich on salt that can be exported, and the salt industry provides a lot of employment.

But salt is a cheap product and therefore doesn’t bring much money to the area. Furthermore, the salt is an obvious consequence of the disaster that struck the area with the drying of the sea. An increase in value might be forwarded by processing the salt. The salt that is sold at present time, is still dirty and very dark.

An ambitious project wants to build a dam between Small and Big Aral. The project has been coming up for several years, and in an Aral Sea conference held in Paris in June 1994, the UN and the World Bank reserved the money needed to undertake the building of the dam - on certain conditions that apparently haven’t yet been fulfilled. The budget amounts to $ 42 million, and the dam is to be build across a natural flow of water from north to south, cutting off the Big Aral from the water supply of the Syr Darya. Today, a deep canal leads the water of Syr Darya more or less directly into the Big Aral. The dam, a vast 21 km cement construction with sluices, is to be supported with 50-70 km of dikes.

The project has the special attention of the mayor of Aralsk. Several times he has taken the initiative to close the canal with dirt, sand and reed and rush. Today the mayor is keeping 20-30 excavators and trucks busy, working on the provisional dam. In the season of cultivation and growing inside the country, the dam holds tight, and the water level in Small Aral is increasing, which lowers the salinity. During autumn and winter, the water level is rapidly increasing, and in the spring, when huge amounts of melting water reach the Aral Sea, the dam collapses, and the construction can start over. But this work has shown that the project is viable, and that the fresh water quickly influences the situation in Small Aral.

The dam should ensure that the water from Syr Darya doesn’t run directly through Small Aral and into Big Aral, but stays in the north to make the Small Aral return to a state of fresh or brackish water, like before 1975. Small Aral as a fresh water lake would mean an area of around 10,000 km2, which means that the port in Aralsk would be reactivated, and that other natural harbours could again be used. The fresh water would also further a rise of the nature that existed, before the salt destroyed the fresh water fauna and flora in and around the sea. This again would improve the climate in the Aralsk Region. The dam provides employment in itself, and in order to even transport construction material to the sea, new roads much be build and existing improved, especially in the south eastern parts. An improved infra structure at the delta would further the possibilities of establishing a fishery on flounder in the Big Aral, since it would facilitate the transport of boats, trucks and fish to and from Aralsk. And the fishery on flounder is the very heart of this NGO-project:

Since 1991, where Danish fishermen for the first time visited the Aral Sea, the desire to support the fishermen and their families at Aral, had been discussed in Denmark. The thought that the fishermen more efficiently than the many reports and articles would be able to attract the attention of the world to the catastrophe in and around the Aral Sea, was directly imported from the work conducted in the Fiskerikollektivet af 1978, concerning the Danish marine environment, in the project "Environmental cutter Anton - for a clean sea", and the thought was strengthened from what the Kazak fishermen told us themselves.

They had grown tired from the many delegations that had visited the area and developed theories, made promises and written scientific articles, without the emergence of anything concrete, and this lack of action had caused a feeling of despair among the fishermen, which was expressed in this image: "If all the delegations that visited the Aral Sea, had only brought each a bucket of water, then this water - together with our tears - could have refilled the Aral Sea".

The philosophy of the Fiskerikollektivet is very simple: The people suffering from mismanagement, in this case the fishermen, should be mobilized in order to bring themselves in the front line of the struggle to improve the nature that also forms the basis of their profession.

In the early nineties, Danida, in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opened an NGO-support scheme. We therefore enquired Danida about the possibilities of exerting NGO development funds in favour of the remaining fishermen and societies at the Small Aral. We were advised to undertake a preliminary identification investigation of such a project, using private funds. The Danish foundation Solhvervsfonden agreed to supply the necessary economical support to the preliminary investigation, and this was conducted in 1994.

Since the late eighties, biologists in Aralsk had worked to draw the attention of the fishermen to the apparent fact that a stock of flounder in Aral was about ready to form the basis of a commercial fishery. The biologists had performed investigations showing a stock of around 50,000 tons of flounder, and that the fishermen could catch 5,000-10,000 tons a year without depreciating the stock.

Now, the fishermen told us that they would very much like to start the catching of the many flatfish in the Aral Sea, but were in acute lack of effective tools and know-how to do it. They showed us a Russian book from 1936, explaining about the Danish seine fishing that was specially developed to improve the catches of flounder. (The Danish seine was invented in the middle of the 19th century by Jens Væver from Esbjerg). Could this technique be applied to the Aral Sea?

In the Aral Sea, the fishermen use a special seine that is quite voluminous, and which is pulled ashore by camels. This tool is extensive and has very long arms. It is most effective in the catching of the types of fish swimming in the upper parts of the water: species that are also seen in shoals, but it does not search the bottom nearly as thoroughly as the Danish seine. The seine traditionally used in the Aral Region is therefore not very suitable in catching the flatfish that is widely spread on the sea bottom. The fishermen also use ordinary staying nets, but these are nets like Danish fishermen used in the fifties, and they are construed to catch the known species in fresh water, and therefore unfit in the catching of flounder. Add to this that the fishermen have very few nets, all of which are in a bad shape (no re-newing of nets has been possible since 1991), and it is understandable that no vast effort has been made to catch the flounder n the Aral Sea.

• There are several reasons why the flounder fishery was never initiated:
• The acute economical limitations. No money exists in the area to invest in new equipment.
• Limitations with regards to management. Few, if any, make the necessary decisions, especially because of the lack of economical potential in the area.
• Tradition. The flatfish (flounder) was introduced 20-25 years ago. Together with 25 other species/organisms, flounder was introduced in the sea in attempt to create a basis of a commercial salt-water fishery in the Aral Sea to replace the fresh-water fishery that disappeared, when the salinity increased from 9 to 30 per mille. Only the fishermen knew nothing of flounder fishery. They didn’t know how to catch it, and they were insecure as to whether the people in the area would at all eat this unknown fish.

At the Small Aral there are there larger fishery organisations left: two kolhozes, Raim in the delta near the Syr Darya, and Djambul in the desert west of Aralsk, and the sovkoz Aralrybprom in Aralsk.

The fishery on flounder was initiated, but at the same time the catching of traditional species went down significantly. Hence, when looking at the total catches in the period 1991-1996, you notice a vast set back in all species, measured by tons:

The set back in traditional fishery is explained a.o. by the disintegration of management structures, and a lack of willingness to work among the members of cooperatives (this disinclination is inextricably bound up with the fact that the members do not receive their salory in cash value, but in services and in poor victuals, such as margarine). The lack of equipment, in the fishery and in the treatment, is also of significance. Furthermore, the statistics do not account for the fish that is sold outside oficial systems, by private fishermen and their families.

The preliminary investigation in 1994 resulted in a "Terms of Reference"; an agreement that formed the basis of a Kazak visit in Denmark in 1995. The visit was supported by the Demokratifonden (The Democracy Foundation) in Denmark. During this visit, the first "Protocol of our common aims" was signed by the Danish and Kazak originators and the leaders of the remaining fishery communities around Small Aral, and this declaration of intent caused an application to Danida towards the end of 1995. In the early 1996, the project "From Kattegat to Aral Sea - a fishery project" was granted around $200,000.

The most important arguments for the development project:

• There is a yet unexploited ressource of fish.
• There are many professionals available (fishermen).
• There is a historical tradition of a well-developed fishery.
• There are many unemployed men and women in Aralsk with experience in fishery industry.
• There is an environmental disaster, in which the fishermen have only been taking part as the ones who lost.
• There is a vast need of development on all areas in the societies.

The overall target of the project is: To support the maintenance and development of the Kazak fishery culture around the Northern part of the Aral Sea, through three partial aims:

• To aid a sustainable fishery on a largely unexploited ressource by supporting an ecologicaly responsible technology.
• To support the traditional fishery with staying nets as an emergency aid to rebuild the fishery on Aral.
• To strengthen the local means of distribution by improving the skills in fresh fish treatment among workers.

The primary target group is the Kazak fishermen and their families.

The secondary target group is the workers in the fishery industry, most of whom are women.

 The plans concerning the introduction of Danish seine fishery in the Aral Sea had to be abandoned, because of a considerable risk that the water level in the natural harbour meant to be used, would be far from stable. And the Danish seine fishery would require a harbour, since to smaller cutters were to be engaged to this purpose. The fishery with staying nets, on the contrary, could be conducted from the beach with smaller boats, which is why the project could obtain higher degrees of security by focusing on the staying net fishery.

The project runs in three years, beginning in 1996:

The 1996-phase:

• August A one month stay in Denmark for 19 Kazak: Eight fishermen, four specialists from the fishery industry, six interpreters, and one coordinator.
• October A trial fishery on the Aral Sea. Participants from Denmark: 2 fishermen, 1 biologist, 1 photographer, and from Kazakstan: 65 fishermen, 25 workers, and 14 women from the fishery industry.

1997:

• August Midway evaluation.

1998:

• June – phase 2.

 Throughout this period the development is followed via reports and letters from Almaty and Aralsk. The Danish co-ordinator has a monthly contact with Kazakstan, and locally a minor budget exists to cover expenses in the preparation of analysis and project descriptions, and the support of the establishing of smaller co-operative units among the fishermen.

In June 1996, the Danish co-ordinator went to Aralsk. In co-operation with the Kazak co-ordinator it was the aim to establish understanding and backing in the one month stay of a Kazak delegation in Denmark. Leaders didn't express much understanding of the urge to let so-called ordinary fishermen and workers should go to Denmark - they believed that they themselves would be most fit to explain the circumstances in the project to the fishermen and workers. But the plans had to be maintained, and in the end the leaders had to accept the plan the project was to be continued. The grounds for this were - and are - that the leaders have had their time, the agreements were signed by the leaders, but in order to ensure the results, plans had to be worked through with the people that were to take care of the practical circumstances in the preparation of the trial fishery on the Aral Sea. The practical elements of the 1996 phase were crucial in the attempt to prove that flatfish existed in the Aral Sea, and that the Kazak fishermen were able to catch it.

Eight fishermen, four of whom were brigadiers, four vicechairmen from co-operative Aralrybprom and six interpreters were invited to Denmark. The interpreters counted four English teachers from Aralsk and two from Almaty. All needed new passports and visa, and separate permissions were required for each to leave the region to go abroad. All preparation; standing in a line for several days waiting for permission and visa; ordering and paying for train- and plane tickets; co-ordinating the meeting in Moscow between the group from Almaty and from Aralsk, was only possible because the Kazak co-ordinator had experience from previous trips to Denmark. Kazak delegations visiting Denmark have to travel via Moscow and stay in the city for several days waiting for visa, since Denmark has no diplomatic representation in Central Asia.

The group arrived in Denmark in early August, and was acommodated in three summerhouses near Boennerup on Djursland. The program included visiting firms, seminars, culture meetings and fishery. The fishermen from Boennerup Port had agreed to take the Kazak fishermen with them on daily fishery, and in this manner, the Kazak fishermen took part in fishery with both staying nets, Danish seine, and trawl. This co-operation went on for a fortnight, and interestingly, the fishermen soon decided not to want interpreters going with them on the fishing. The communication took place in Danish, English, Russian and Kazak, and apparently understanding was no major problem, when centered around the professional co-operation. The other members of the delegation went on excursions, took part in seminars, visited the fishery industries, and a lot of talks took place on the trial fishery on the Aral Sea soon to be set in motion. A one day meeting was focused entirely on the problems to be expected, when they were to convince the leaders at home that they should support the project. The following was needed:

• That a base camp was build by the sea, app. 75 km from Aralsk. The sea bottom is very muddy at places, and therefore difficult to navigate. At Tastubek, the shore and the sea bottom were acceptable, and the small village itself was situated relatively close to the intended base camp.
• That at least 20 boats with working engines were moved to the camp. These boats were to be moved across significant distances.
• That five trucks and a jeep were available for the transportation of fish, equipment, gasoline (10 tons), food, a biological field camp with five workers, tents, material for building toilets a.o., and for the building of a gangway and a bridge to reach 40 m. into the sea.
• That reliable agreements were made between the Aralrybprom, Raim and Djambul kolhozes, concerning the distribution of tasks and economies. To the Kazak side, the agreement meant that equipment, food, salary etc. at a value of $20,000 were to be provided. These were the conditions of the Danish contribution that consisted in a.o. 1,000 new nets, rope, fillet-equipment, and a complete equipment for 100 fishermen, including thermosuits, rubber clothes, boots, knives, and gloves. Equipment worth in all at least $110,000.

Before leaving Denmark, the agreements should be undersigned, and a farewell party was arranged with the many people that had contributed to the success of the stay. The party was a Kazak evening with all the dishes and ceremonies that go along with such a celebration.

The Kazak visit in Boennerup was locally a success, and an event that is still frequently mentioned and warmly described. Still in 1998, people in Djursland often ask how their friends at the Aral Sea are doing. And the evaluation among fishermen in Boennerup clearly suggested that their Kazak colleagues are fishermen with practical and professional skills.

The visiting delegations in 1995 and 1996 have created good relations between Djursland and Aralsk. These have emerged around the direct co-operation in fishing, and by the fact that the Kazak have visited and lived with families at Djursland. Now, many people know about the problems in and around the Aral Sea, which means that communication in this respect is significantly eased. Local media, newspapers, television, and radio, have brought a number of articles and broadcasts. A counting of the national media interest, shows the following:

In Kazakstan, no actual counting of the coverage has been made, but the project has app. 10 articles from Kazak newspapers , all written before 1997, and more have emerged since then. During the Kazak visit in Denmark, a programme of half an hour was produced, and has been repeatedly broadcasted on Kazak television, latest in September 1997. During the trial fishery, local media from Kzyl-Orda broadcasted their own features and programmes.

On September 16th 1996, a cargo transport left Djursland with destination in Aralsk, and expected arrival in the days before the 1st of October. The transport was loaded with equipment for the trial fishery; 1,000 nets, suits for fishermen, rope, well boxes, seine rope, anchors, knives, 100 plastic boxes for fish, a 10x10x5 m. pound net to keep living fish, objects collected for an exhibition on Danish fishery, and a pallet of LEGO to be distributed among the schools in the area as a present from LEGO-toys in Billund. It was the first time ever that a Danish company was to transport equipment to this area of the former USSR. A co-operation between a Danish and a Polish transport firm, had taken the assignment, which assured at least one Russian speaking driver.

On September the 20th, the four Danish participants in the trial fishery started their journey by train via Berlin, Poland, Moscow and using the Moscow-Almaty/Tashkent railway. This journey took five days, and having arrived in Aralsk, the work began to start the trial fishery - and to worry whether the transport from Denmark would reach Aralsk safely and in due time.

In August it had been agreed that our partners in Aralsk should try to purchase three nomadic tents ("yurte"s), and try to collect a complete set of effects for a nomadic household. The Moesgaard Ethnographical Collection in Aarhus wanted to add such a household to their collection. The fishery department of Djursland Museum had donated some materials for the exhibition on Danish fishery in Aralsk, and would like to have some objects in return, to make an exhibition on the fishery on Aral, in Denmark.

However, only some fishery equipment had been collected, and therefore we had to buy tents, carpets and other equipment in a hurry. We had three days to collect the equipment that was going back to Denmark, since the transport had to return only two days after its arrival. We managed to buy three tents and the many carpets that go along with them, and to collect some household effects, however not a complete set. The fishing tackle for Djursland Museum was collected, some of it donated by the Aralrybprom museum and the Aralsk biological institute, and some of it lent, with the courtesy of the same institutions.

The cargo truck arrived exactly on schedule, and the transport had been perfectly successful, even if the last app. 500 km were all gravel roads. (During the preparations in the summer of 1996, we had investigated the possibilities to load the cargo on a container and transport it using the railway, but no guarantee as to the delivery could be granted, and the cargo had to be in Aralsk before the 1st of October, otherwise we would have severe problems with the plan of the trial fishery.)

When the transport arrived in Aralsk, we couldn't initiate the reloading immediately. Intense negotiations were going on between us, the local leaderships and the city council of Aralsk. Problems had occurred in relation to the general director of the Aralrybprom, who now wished to alter the contract. This contract, which in detail describes the distribution of equipment and the responsibility of the implementation of the trial fishery, was undersigned by his deputy, the vice director, during the August visit in Denmark. The agreement on co-operation from June 1996, on which that contract was founded, describes the budget as well as the distribution of equipment between the three local parties. In 1996, three agreements concerning the trial fishery were made.

The city council pressed the general director to acknowledge that the agreement had to be kept, if there was to be any hope that the project could be launched. During these negotiations, we also needed to establish a guarantee that the necessary equipment was brought to the sea - this equipment had not been moved there at the time of our arrival, and again pressure had to be put on the leaders in order to achieve our aims. One very important part of the project was the gasoline. In Aralsk, gasoline had become a valuable form of payment, and hence we were expecting notable problems in this particular aspect. Under these circumstances, and under severe pressure, we couldn't achieve the maximum fulfilment of all agreements made, local tension was too high for that, but most importantly, we reached a level of necessary security that the trial fishery would be carried out, and from this point, it was possible to begin the work. The cargo truck loaded with the tents and effects bought, set sails for Denmark - and arrived there six days later, again without any problems on the way.

The Fishery: The planned base camp by the sea shore had to be changed to lodgings in the small village Tastubek, about 10 km from the sea. The alteration was explained by the wind and the cold nights that would make it inconvenient to the Danes to live in tents. The real explanation however, seems to be that no initiative had been made to build the camp, before our arrival. In the village, which did turn out to be a warm and good place to stay, the fishermen lived in three houses - one of them with more than 30 people - and the Danes and their interpreters were lodged with a local family that was too take care of our well being for the next 20 days, assisted by chosen people from Aralsk.

At the sea shore, a head quarter was made, consisting in tents and a wagon, toilets, a biological field station, and a system of weighing the catches. Two flagstaffs were put up, and in a ceremony attended by leaders and mayors, the Kazak and the Danish flag were hoist, and the flags became the symbols of the co-operation during the following weeks.

The camp was situated at a place that had not been used for fishery before that, which is why nothing whatsoever indicated that people had ever been there. The coast was "cleaned" of any of the blessings of civilisation, such as plastics, and it was a peaceful place without much wild life. About 2 km from the sea shore, the steep former shore rose some 100 m, and on the former sea bottom camels passed from time to time.

This place, 75 km away from Aralsk by wheel tracks in the sand, turned out to be the centre of the first major fishery in Aral since 1975. The event had created much attention in the Aralsk region; would it really be possible to start fishing on Aral again? Old fishermen who had been fishing on the sea themselves, back when that was possible, came to the camp to wish us good luck and to tell their stories about the time when the sea gave life to so many people. To the Danish participants these moments were of significant value. One of us had been in the area in 1991 and again later, but none had tried to sail on the sea, and much less of course to catch fish from it.

Hence the big question was: Did an amount of fish exist in the sea big enough to legitimate this summoning of people and forces? Maybe the time was wrong, maybe the place was wrong, and if no fish was caught initially, how to start it all up again in another place? Here, on this very spot, so far away from Everything, the project that had taken so much of our thinking and energy, was to prove its validity.

The following day, 2,500 kg of flounder were landed; a good catch by quantity, but importantly also flounder of a very high quality: a quality that was unseen in Danish waters. And during the 16 days to come, app. 60,000 kg of high quality flounder were landed. It was a good catch, when compared to the number of boats and nets applied. The project didn't get the promised 20 boats with engines, and had to work with 15 boats, four of which didn't have their own engine. Each boat could handle no more than 15-25 nets, depending on size and crew. Initially, the fishermen had to learn the craft of taking out the flounder from the nets, which needs practice and time. Furthermore, the flounder had to be cleaned - something that wasn't done when catching the traditional species: normally, the fish was simply driven to the city and frozen there. Flounder is more delicate in its skin than traditional fresh water species such as carp and pike, which is why the fish had to be cleaned and preferably cooled as soon as possible - an unusual way of working to the fishermen.

The fishery was conducted in the following manner. Early in the morning, before sun rise, everybody drove from Tastubek to the camp. Soon after arriving there, the fishermen started going out to the fishing grounds. On some mornings, one Dane went out with a boat, but usually there was enough work to be done ashore until the fishermen started bringing in the fish in the afternoon. The truck from Aralsk arrived with boxes, and things had to be made ready for the weighing. A gangway was build during the first week, and turned into a fine quay along the way. It was a most needed piece of work, since mud at the sea shore, 100 m into the sea and the first 50 m at shore, made the transport of equipment and fish a most difficult task. Before the bridges started working, the fishermen, in mud to their knees, dragged tubs with fish weighing 80-100 kg ashore - just about more than flesh and blood can stand. All the time, however, pressure had to be made, to get the necessary materials from Aralsk. The large amount of "specialists" attached to the camp, rarely promoted the facilitation of the work.

The work performed by the Danish participants was divided in this manner:

- One fisherman was in Aralsk on the plant, where the work with the fish was conducted: a fillet-team of 14 women was established, fillets were cut and frozen, and the smokehouse was to be supplied with fish. Furthermore, pressure had to be made to produce ice, to obtain gasoline, and to have trucks sent to the sea. There was always a lack of ice and gasoline; the production of ice could brake off immediately because of lack of ammonia. The fillet-team worked well, but was unaccustomed in working with flatfish, and the work was interrupted every day in the afternoon, because the electricity supply was cut off in the entire Aralsk region. The main problems in Aralsk were the power cuts, the lack of gasoline, low quality of water, inefficient capacity to freeze the fish, ineffective and much too many leaders. The positive sides were the big support and hard work of the fishermen, the women in the industry, the interpreters, and the people who struggled to create coherence along the way: the drivers and the workers. Their efforts were exposed in connection with a market day, where flounder was introduced to the public, prepared like in Denmark, and prepared in traditional Kazak dishes. At this market, flounder was also sold, whole, in fillets and smoked.

- One fisherman was responsible of the camp, which included a project of drying flounder at the beach. The October climate invited to the drying of fish: not too hot and always windy. The flounder was dried without salt, and salted at various degrees, with good results. Every day the fishing should be planned, changes of working routines introduced, and solutions were to be found to the problems arising from the increasing amounts of fish landed. A truck could carry no more than 3,000-4,000 kg of fish because of the condition of the roads, and the project had only got one closed truck at it's disposal. Therefore, an ordinary truck had to be made ready for transport of fish. The 100 plastic boxes could hold no more than 3,000 kg, and therefore sacks had to be applied; sacks that had been brought from Denmark and are usually used for potatoes. 100 m into the sea, at convenient distance from the mud, a "cleaning-station" was established, consisting in two boats at anchor. Here, the fishermen pulled over with their catches, in order to have them washed and cleaned. To the Kazak fishermen this work was very troublesome, since it was normally the job of workers in the industry. To a Danish fisherman it is most natural to clean flatfish, but this skill is trained and developed over years. Considering the increasing amounts of the catches, the fishermen were even more loaded, and this fact together with the necessity of transporting some of the fish on open trucks, questioned the procedure of cleaning in the boats. It was doubtful, whether it was defensible to let fish that had been "opened" be exposed of the dust and sand on the way to town. As a consequence, the procedures were changed, so that in the last half part of the trial fishery period, the fish was only washed in the boats, and then sent to Aralsk, where a team of women started cleaning it.

- The photographer, who brought with him a professional video recorder, made recordings in the camp, on sea and in Aralsk in order to describe the events. 11 hours of film were recorded, describing the fishery, the living in the camp, in Aralsk, in the plant, in the villages etc. Furthermore, pictures were made for photos and slides. It was also possible to visit schools and exchange tapes, letters and photos on behalf of a Danish school class that wanted to get in touch with pupils of same age in Aralsk.

The photographer also became the self-appointed analyst of the project, taking down data of the catches: which boat caught how much, when, how and where, using how many nets? These data were made public on a notice board in the camp, for instance: "On the 7th of October, boat M8 caught 725 kg flounder using 10 pcs. 65 mm og 15 pcs. 70 mm nets". This work made it possible to end the trial fishery by a celebration of the most skilful/luckiest boat and crew.

- The laboratory technician worked together with the biological field station that collected data and conducted a trial fishery of their own, weighing and measuring the fish, and taking out ear stones to decide the age of the fish. Samples were taken from stomach contents, and this together with some pieces of dried fish was brought back to Denmark to be scrutinised for heavy metals and pesticides. Having worked for several years as a fisherman however, the technician spent most of his time assisting the organisation of the practical fishery.

Every day, visitors came to the camp, and on some occasions this was celebrated by slaughtering a sheep on the spot, and boiling it with pasta: the traditional Kazak dish "Bisbarmak" ("five fingers"), which everybody eats from the same plate - using the five fingers.

The days in Tastubek hence were much the same: Wakening at 6:00, driving to the beach on the truck body, and getting busy working before dawn. Gasoline was sucked up from the truck tanks, and carried to the boats. The lucky ones without engine trouble could go to the sea, while the unfortunate started separating and adjusting. The nets were pulled up in silence, and if the catches were good, they were accompanied by the quiet humming of the fishermen. Once the flounder had been taken out, the nets were put out again, and the boat headed towards the camp and the weighing. The fishery had come back, and as a visible sign of this, the boats were accompanied on their way back by ever larger flocks of seagulls. At 19:00 everybody was usually back in, and the trucks rumbled back to Tastubek. The fishing was conducted within a radius of max. 10 km from the camp, in depths from two to eight meters. Only one day, the fishing had to be abandoned because of bad weather.

Back in Tastubek, it was time to eat. In the Danish house we could do with a sheep a day, whilst the 35 fishermen of Aralrybprom (though including visitors) finished a horse within a few days! After dinner, an evening meeting was held with the fishermen on the strategies for the coming day: what could be done better, should anyone go to other grounds, and how was the day just finished? These meetings were held in a good atmosphere, since none wanted to miss the possibility of sharing a bottle of vodka with the Danes. After the meeting dombra and guitar were taken out, and the improvising Kazak poets were kindly making fun of the odd Danes.

On the 18th of October, the trial fishery was ended officially by a celebration in the Aralrybprom. All the leaders of Aralsk were represented, and the many speeches all expressed sincere optimism as for the future flounder fishing on Aral.

Our last days in the region were reserved for visiting private homes and schools, where the LEGO-presents were to be divided. Once again we experienced the many feelings connected to the Aral Sea. The songs of the children expressed the longing for the Aral Sea that many of them had never seen, and in their many speeches and by the many presents, the villages made it clear to us that the project had created some hope for a better future.

• The October month trial fishery proved that there is a significant stock of flounder in the Small Aral. An average of app. 30 pounds/net in 15 days and in an area of only about 30 km2, which equals something like 1% of the present area of the Small Aral, is extremely high compared to a similar Danish fishery. These figures cannot of course be multiplied to be valid for all of Small Aral, but the indication is clear: there is a basis of a commercial fishery for flounder.
• The quality of the Aral flounder is very high, with an average weight of app. 300 g, and the laboratory examinations in Denmark showed no sign of abnormal occurences of heavy metals nor pesticides. When the gastronomical quality is added, you have a very fine article. (It tastes good!).
• The fishermen are able to catch the fish, and the women in Aralsk are able to fillet it.
• The participants of the project showed that co-operation was possible, and that difficulties could be overcome.
• In the Aralsk region the myth about the death of Aral has been called seriously into question.
• Especially among the fishermen in the region the conception that the leaders alone decide and control the fishery and the general development, has been somewhat disturbed.

In August 1997, a midway evaluation was made on the 1996 results. From the project side, we wanted an overall view of the local events in the period October 96 - August 97.

The evaluation took place through meetings with all parties involved. The sequence of meetings started in Raim, and continued to all other villages in and around the delta, and from there the route went via Aralsk to Djambul and Tastubek. We established a head quarter in Aralsk, where meetings were held with the villages that hadn´t been involved in the project in 1996, and with all parties involved from Aralsk. Meetings were held in the oblast capital Kzyl-Orda, and in Almaty.

The evaluation-team consisted the co-ordinators from Denmark and Kazakstan, together with the president of the fishermen's union in the Kzyl-Orda oblast. The composition of the evaluation-team was motivated by languages: The Danish co-ordinator gave a summary of his impressions, they were translated into Russian, and in the end everything was explained in Kazak. The Kazak appeared to be the most important part, since it activated the discussion.

The following subjects were to be examined:

1. An important issue was, whether or not the leaderships had fulfilled their contractual obligations towards the fishermen, and the response of the fishermen as to this.
2. We also needed a clearer picture of how much flounder had been caught, where, how, and at what price and to whom it had been sold.
3. We were aware of the changes of ownership in Aralrybprom and the formal consequences of it. Aralrybprom had been reconverted into a joint-stock company, and the general director dismissed, suspected of corruption. But we were not so sure about what were the practical consequences of this.
4. We had a limited knowledge of the events in the kolhozes Raim and Djambul: what significance and what consequences had the project had? In the kolhozes too, there is a lot of talk about privatisation in these days.
5. How was the general reaction among media and the public?
6. How was the reaction among the official authorities in Aralsk and Kzyl-Orda?

Re 1. The meetings with the fishermen were held like this. The group arrived in for example Karateren. We were met by the village fishery chairman, in some places also by the Akim. The introductory meeting was held with the village leaders and chosen fishermen, always fishermen who had been in Denmark or participated in the 1996 trial fishery. During a very big meal, information was exchanged: how much the fishermen of the village had caught, where, when and at what price the fish had been sold and to whom, and also other subjects were discussed such as the conversion of the Aralrybprom, the dam-building, the perspectives of the future.

After that, a meeting was called for in the fishermen's house/office, including 15 to 20 people, mostly fishermen. During this meeting, the fishermen told their stories, how much had been caught, when and in what part of the sea. The fishermen told that they much hoped for a continuation of the project, and that the flounder fishery could be the fishery that meant that they didn't have to travel the long distances to other lakes to fish. Furthermore, they hoped that we from the Danish side would provide more boats, nets, clothes and equipment.

The most important states of affairs that we were to shed light on, were those concerning the fishermen's views upon their benefit from the fishery - had they for instance received the salaries that had been agreed upon in connection with the trial fishery in 1996? This point was important, because the leaders had obligated themselves in the contract to use $ 7,000 for salaries from the $20,000 they were to invest in the project.

On the face of it, the fishermen didn't understand the question: "Salary? But we haven't received any salaries for years - you know that". We knew, but having asked this question, we could proceed with the explanation that salaries were part of the agreement, the contract, between the leaders and the project: The $7,100 that were to be divided among all the active fishermen, who took part in the practical fishery in 1996. This figure meant that each fisherman should have received app. 10,000 Tenge.

When this was explained, and the fishermen had comprehended that they actually had a right to receive this money, we could give them the general explanation, we had prepared.

We made it clear that a future co-operation had to be based on agreements completely different from the ones that had been made with the leaderships. We introduced them to an entirely new Kazak law, adopted in July 1997. This law enables the establishing and registration of smaller co-operatives with no more than 15 members. Our suggestion was that the fishermen started founding co-operatives exclusively consisting in professional fishermen. They should be trained and have practised fishery, which would appear from the book, every fisherman possesses, and in which all data is printed. The individual co-operatives should draw up a project description stating their needs, strategies and an agreement with the villages where they and their families live. After that, the co-operatives could expect to reach independent agreements with the project, as to support and credits. From our side, we also informed about our plans concerning the structuring of the activity to buy, treat and sell the fish that the co-operatives catch.

The fishermen that had visited Denmark could inform their colleagues that we were working to further structures somewhat like known in Denmark; structures that ensured that the responsibility of catching and primary treatment belonged to the fishermen. Buying and transporting the fish to Aralsk, as well as further treatment and selling would be the task of the fishery industry. Agreements on price, seasons, amounts, including other species than flounder, should be organised through a "Fishermen's Common Council" and the fish treatment plant. Such a structure would ensure that support and credits would be to the benefit of the fishermen in the smaller and more transparent co-operatives. And it would ensure that the co-operatives could have their accounts settled immediately after landing the fish.

After the explanations, discussion, tea and food, the fishermen agreed completely that this had to be the strategy worth going for.

Re 2. The tables below show the development of catches in 1,000 kg. The figures should be taken with a grain of salt, since they don't agree completely with earlier information, but the tendency is the same and clear:

The fishermen informed us that they had a good fishery in early 1997 by Ysh-Schocke (which is nearer Aralsk than Tastubek). However, the fishery was interrupted when the dam broke down, and the water withdrew 300-400 m. After that it was necessary to move back to Tastubek. Private fishermen from Akesbe (app. 105 km west of Aralsk), who hadn't participated in 1996, told us that they had caught 15,000 kg of flounder using their own equipment. Furthermore, private fishermen from the village Gaas (app. 260 km west of Aralsk) told that they with old nets had caught 8,000 kg in the Big Aral.

The prices of the fish sold varied a lot. For instance, the Aralrybprom supposedly sold fish at more than 80 Tenge/kg. The Raim fishermen told that they had obtained 32 T/kg for fish sold to Leninsk at Bajkonur. A buyer from Leninsk said in a meeting in Raim that he was firmly convinced that the price of flounder could go up to 80-100 T/kg. The variation of prices must be seen in the light of the fact that payment is usually not performed in actual money, but in exchanges of articles, which means that both parties decide for themselves, what "price" they have paid or received.

Re 3. The changes in ownership at Aralrybprom, the conversion into a joint-stock company, had caused the dismissal of the general director, who had been replaced by the director of the major flour- and bread factory in town. The president of the joint-stock company lives in Almaty, and the valuable property of the joint-stock company in Aralsk also includes the bread factory and two smaller factories producing victuals. The dismissed general director did not have the confidence of the city administration (the mayor), but neither has the new ownership. The general comprehension of the situation in Aralsk was that the conversion hadn't caused significant changes. The reaction among "semi-leaders" depended on their "choices" and general situation, i.e. whether or not they had the right relationship with the new leadership, which included a number of factors, even family connections way back in the line of Aralrybprom leadership.

The smaller villages now hoped that the new joint-stock company could help them obtain the amounts due to them, for instance paid in means of production. The village Bugun for example had, according to the village mayor, outstanding debts with the Aralrybprom worth 6 million Tenge, because of missing payments for fish delivered.

Re 4. In the kolhozes, leaderships were intact and without obvious opposition. The fishermen weren't receiving their salory here either, but their reaction to this differed notably from the fishermen directly connected to the Aralrybprom. This must be explained by the fact that the values, the fish, is visibly beneficial to the village in general.

Re 5. Apparently, everybody knew about the project, and everybody had an opinion about it. On the train, going to Kzyl-Orda, people came to us to express their hopes for the future fishery for flounder in Aral. Flounder, i.e. flatfish, is called Kambala in Russian, but now many referred to the fish as "skrubbe" (Danish for flounder). People talked about the project in the street, it was discussed on TV and in newspapers. It is surprising that so many people know so much so fast, and the many details in the knowledge among people (someone knows someone who has a brother who has been fishing on that ground) shows that the project has not only been communicated through the media, but that the conversation is still alive and well in the Kazak society.

Re 6. The authorities in Aralsk support the project at 100 %, and in connection with the evaluation good relations to the oblast-leadership in Kzyl-Orda were established. Especially a seminar in Kzyl-Orda stands out in this respect, chaired by the oblast mayor, a powerful person controlling a region of the size of France. During the seminar the mayor encouraged/ordered that the local authorities supported the project. Subsequently, a meeting was held with the leadership of the juridical-economical department of the oblast administration, on which this department confirmed their supporting the future plans of the project. (The new, independent smaller co-operatives of max. 15 people, must apply for juridical licence in the oblast juridical administration). In a lengthy meeting with the leader of the UNDP-office in Kzyl-Orda, the project was also fully backed.

In Almaty we met the former vice minister of fishery, Mukhtar Tairov, who is now the president of the main union of fishery enterprises (former sovhozes) in Kazakstan. He told us about his hesitation as to conducting a production of flounder without the establishing of a company with neutral leadership (i.e. without the limitations imposed locally by families, tribes, clans etc.).

In a meeting with the TACIS head quarters and the leader of the total Tacis programme in Kazakstan, it was agreed that the office should be informed concretely about the project along the way. He then would take care of the deliverance of this information to the proper destination within Tacis.

The deputy chairman of the UNDP-Kazakstan and the responsible of the Aralsk region gave their consent to support the future work. It was agreed that an agreement of co-operation should be sketched to further the co-operation between the project and the UNDP offices in Aralsk, Kazalinsk and Kzyl-Orda.

With the purpose to strengthen the local work and to establish a more direct contact between Aralsk and Denmark, Jannat Makhambetova was employed from September, 1997 and till the end of the year. In Denmark, a working group has been created, within the Danish Society for a Living Sea. The working group is called ‘NGO Aral Sea Working Group Denmark’. In Kazakstan they have succeeded in forming 22 smaller fishery co-operatives, with understanding from the communities where the fishermen belong, and from the villages where they live. An NGO organisation has been established with the objective to manage the ongoing tasks connected to the project. This work include things like the public participation in and understanding of the project, local employment, and the economical responsibility for the project in Kazakstan.

Apart from continuing the project, the 1998-99 phase includes a more intense effort in trying to catch and sell the flounder; and a biologically controlled test fishing in Great Aral – both tasks are included to achieve more knowledge about the possibilities of the fishery in the area. There will also be a minor field study among the women formerly working in the fish industry to learn more about their willingness to return to wage labour in the fish industry.

In Denmark, an informational campaign with the title ’The Aral Sea and its Fishery’ will be implemented. This will start in 1998 in connection with a summit meeting between environmental ministers in Århus. Here a large plate exhibition, Kazakish jurtes, and a small exhibition of the fishery will be set up. Apart from the Danish participants, a small Kazakish delegation, with the burgomasters from Kzyl-Orda and from Aralsk as heads, will participate in the summit. Their main task will be to set the Aral Sea on the international agenda of environmental politics – to benefit the people who suffer from the catastrophe.

In the middle of 1999 a project document will be drawn up, and perhaps this will result in an enlargement of the project. The enlargement will have as its primary objective to strengthen the treatment and selling of fish, with the purpose to improve a monetary economy in the Aralsk region. This purpose will need a longer project period: 3-5 years, and the project will need considerable support from Western donors.

June, 1998

Articles, reports, books:

• The Europa World Year Book 1996, vol. II., (Europa Publications Limited. 1996).
• Aral – problems and perspectives of Aral´s crisis, (The Int. Aral Sea Rehabilitation Fond, Almaty 1997).
• The Aral Sea Region Development and Humanitarian Assistance Programme 1997-2000, (Kyzylorda Oblast Administration, June 1997).
• Retningslinier for private danske organisationer vedr. støtte til udviklingsprojekter, (Udenrigsministeriet, 1997).
• Central Asien – en landebeskrivelse, (Det sikkerheds- og nedrustningspolitiske udvalg)
• "Kunsten at fange skrubber", (Information, 23.8.96).
• "Aralsøen på ørkenvandring", (Information, 18.8.95).
• "Aralsø-fiskere vil lære det danske snurrevodsfiskeri", (Fiskeri Tidende, 17.8.95).
• "Lokale fiskere: Aralsøen kan reddes", (MiljøDanmark, sept. 1996).
• "Aralsøen – en menneskeskabt katastrofe", (Sociale Penge, nr. 1, 1996).
• "Fiskere ved Aral Sø hjælper Henrik", (Vejle Amts Folkeblad, februar, 1997).
• "Ved saltørkenens bred", (Samvirke, marts 1998).
• "Öknens skepp tar över", (Land, nr. 6, 7. Februar 1992, (Sverige)).
• "Fra sø til ørken", (JydskeVestkysten, 12.10.97).
• "En skygge i sølvnatten", (Aktuelt, 6.10.97).

Figure 1: Structure of co-operation

Figure 2: Communities of fishermen at Little Aral

Abildaev, Kouantkhan (Karateren), Fisherman.

Aimagambetov, Daukara (Raim Kolkhos), Former Chairman

Aimbetov, Adilbek (Kzyl-Orda), Former manger.

Ajibaev, Sjumagali (Raim Kolkhos), Fisherman.

Alem (Kzyl-Orda), Trade union Chariman.

Alnyazov, Bolat (Aralsk), Teacher.

Aryngaziev, Sjilkibai (Aralsk), Technician.

Baimuratova, Sjanbota (Aralsk), Teacher.

Baimyrzaev, Alashbai (Aralsk), Burgomaster.

Bajsjanov, Sjetkerbaj (Aralsk), Technician.

Balmakhajeva, Gauhar (Almaty), Journalist.

Batimova, Akshabak (Aralsk), Fishery technician.

Beketov Lesken (Aralsk), Chairman.

Bisenbaev, Amangeldy (Almaty), Biologist.

Bisenbaev, Kurmanbek (Kazalinsk), Doctor.

Ermakhanov, Zaoulkhan (Aralsk), Biologist.

Ibraimov, Nurtai (Aralsk), Biologist.

Isbasarov, Sjalgasbai (Djambul Kolkhos), Fisherman.

Kajupov, Sjoldaz (Djambul Kolkhos), Fisherman.

Karatupov, Akserbek (Bugun), Chairman.

Kenesov, Ablaikhan (Tastubek), Fisherman.

Kengembaev, Gaksuluk (Tastubek), Fisherman.

Kipchakov, Karabek (Aralsk), Mechanic.

Kulmuratov, Kusherbai (Aralsk), Director.

Kulpibaev, Tanatar (Djambul Kolkhos), Fisherman.

Kutmanbetov, Murat (Djambul Kolkhos), Chairman.

Makhambetova, Sjannat (Aralsk), Teacher.

Naratoli Diminov (Akesbè), Chairman

Saparbaev, Berdibek (Kzyl-Orda), Bougurmaster.

Saxar (Djambul Kolkhos), Driver.

Seitov, Syjubaj (Djambul Kolkhos), Former Chairman.

Sembaev, Serik (Raim Kolkhos), Fisherman.

Sjoldasov, Tarakhan (Aralsk), Fisherman.

Sjubanijazova Sjaripa (Aralsk), Fishery Technician.

Sjuginisov Bakhit (Aralsk), Chairman.

Sjumagulov, Nurlanbek (Aralsk), Economist.

Sjurimbetov, Saparbai (Amanutkol), Fisherman.

Sjursimbaev Marat (Aralsk), Chairman.

Sulejmenov, Talgat (Aralsk), Historian.

Tabinbaeva, Nursaule (Tastubek), Bookkeeper.

Tairov Mukhtar (Almaty), Former Vice-Minister of Fisheries

Tairov, Makhambet (Almaty), Professor.

Tlepov, Aikilde (Bugun), Fisherman.

Tleulesov, Erlan (Bugun), Fisherman.

Tsoi, Vjateslav (Balkhas), Biologist.

Ualiev, Tolagaj (Djambul Kolkhos), Bookkeeper

Uikasov, Tollibei (Karateren), Chairman

Umbetov, Akhmedulla (Aralsk), former vice-bougurmaster

Utepbergenov, Sistan (Aralsk), Teacher