Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • Fish inspectors in surplus tanks get stuck in pursuit of poachers.<br />
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 An anti-poaching enforcement trip starts in Sobolevo, the salmon poaching epicenter. Men ride on tanks and in boats attempting to spot poachers who put out nets to fish–they can see where sediment on the rocks was washed away and a net was dragged. Their suspicions are confirmed when they find spilled caviar. They follow many paths into the woods finding the poacher camp. <br />
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The patrols are just outside Soboleva in the heart of the most poached area of Kamchatka. Soboleva is on the Sea of Okhotsk, just off the Kamchatka shelf and is only accessible by MI-8 helicopter.
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  • Anti-poaching wardens burn a poachers camp and caviar processing area.<br />
Poaching is the biggest threat to salmon in Russia.
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  • Anti-poaching wardens burn a poachers camp and caviar processing area.<br />
Poachers are the greatest threat to salmon in Russia.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248209.JPG
  • Anti-poaching wardens destroy poacher's caviar processing area.<br />
This is a rare raid of a poaching camp in Kamchatka. There are only four legal fish inspectors in this area for eight major river systems. These rivers emanate from the middle range and flow through the wetlands of western Kamchatka and finally out to the Sea of Okhotsk. Fish inspectors rarely make the 70 bust quota they are required to make per season.
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  • Fish inspectors take a break during their pursuit of salmon poachers.<br />
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A warden shares tea with the poachers in their kitchen tent. There are a lot of unwritten rules. Fish wardens know that it costs $10,000 to get into a poaching camp in Kamchatka, and $10,000 to get back out by helicopter with your catch. The wardens understand that if they destroy fishing gear and caviar production facilities, they have harmed their neighbors enough. And they also can’t afford $10,000 to get criminals back by helicopter for prosecution.<br />
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The poachers know this, and know not to bring any kind of identity papers with them because it is possible for them to be prosecuted with their passports.  The kitchen survives the burn so men can feed themselves. The poachers go free, but have to sit and wait for their helicopter, empty handed which is why the wardens don’t burn their kitchen or sleeping areas.
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  • Anti-poaching wardens discover and destroy a poachers camp and caviar processing area by setting it on fire to burn.
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  • Fish inspectors in surplus tanks loaded with a boat and supplies as they pursue salmon poachers who are the greatest threat to salmon in Russia.
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  • Fish inspectors wade in shallow water are in pursuit of salmon poachers.
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  • Fish inspectors drive surplus tanks to pursue salmon poachers who are the biggest threat to salmon in Russia.
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  • In Kamchatka, much of the anti-poaching warden’s equipment is provided by WWF and other NGOs to keep the Kurilskoe Lake World Heritage Site poacher free.  But they do not get money for free weights, so wardens strap together  MI-8 and tank parts to use as weight-training equipment. The “weight bench” is a couple of discarded 50-gallon drums for aviation fuel. <br />
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These wardens were brought in from the Sochi area of Russia (Caucus Mountains) so that they would have no local contacts or ties to poaching brigades so they would clean up the area.  Two or three of the wardens are always out on enforcement for over a month at a time. The official salary for a warden is $200 a month, but the WWF supplemented salaries and bought them equipment they need to do the job.
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  • Privately funded anti-poaching forces confront a suspect.
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  • Children of woman arrested by anti-poaching forces north of the park.
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  • Man arrested by anti-poaching forces north of the park.
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  • Anti-poaching forces confront old woman possessing bits of bush meat.
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  • A Kurilskoye Lake Preserve game warden lifting weights he salvaged from scrap MI-8 helicopter parts.
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  • A woman with an impala skin is arrested by an antipoaching ranger.
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  • Koryak residents of Khailino, Kamchatka, Russia, rush to get their mother to the poacher's helicopter so she can get medical treatment in Petropavlovsk. The poaching situation in these areas allows some individuals to pay for helicopter time and on return trips the helicopter is often empty. If you know poachers it's possible, in this case, to get medical care.
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  • Aerial  photo shows tire tracks in the tundra are left by poachers. <br />
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 The Kamchatka Shelf in Russia is mostly inaccessible.  Flying in and out by MI-8 helicopter is expensive but the fear is that the roads being constructed  for oil and gas pipelines will open these remote areas to more poaching.
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