Armenian President in Gegharkunik region held a meeting on the problems of Lake Sevan

ArmInfo. Armenian President  Serzh Sargsyan paid a working visit to the Gegharkunik region of the  country.

The RA leader's press office told ArmInfo that in the communities of  Lchap and Karchaghbyur Sargsyan got acquainted with the progress of  works within the framework of the comprehensive program for the  restoration of Ishkhan stocks (Salmo ischchan - a kind of fish of the  salmon family, endemic of Armenia) in Lake Sevan and the development  of fish culture.

The program is aimed at restoring fish species, natural resources and  the ecosystem of Lake Sevan, with the aim of restoring Ishkhan's  reserves in Lake Sevan, creating funds to solve the environmental  problems of Lake Sevan, and creating new jobs. Within the framework  of the program, it is planned to form an environmentally sustainable  value chain for the production of Sevan Ishkhan over the coming  years. 

The process of production and sale will be carried out by the closed  joint-stock companies "Sevani Ishkhan" and "Sevan Aqua", which are  created by the fund for the restoration of the stocks of the Sevan  Ishkhan and the development of fish farming. " The President of  Armenia visited the Sevan Aqua Sequoia in the Lchap community. 

Accompanied by the Vice Prime Minister, the Minister of International  Economic Integration and Reforms, the Minister of Nature Protection,  the head of the regional administration of Gegharkunik, the director  of the Institute of Hydroecology and Fish Culture of the National  Academy of Sciences, the heads of the above companies and other  officials, the president got acquainted with the work done and the  infrastructures created.

Sargsyan then visited the fish farm of Sevani Ishkhan, located in the  community of Karchakhbyr, where he got acquainted with the works  performed in the complex and attended the opening of the fry breeding  plant.

The new plant will provide a full cycle of breeding two endemic  subspecies (Gegharkuni and summer bahtak). Creation of a full-fledged  life-cycle system, according to the management's assurance, makes it  possible to control all stages of production.

At the end of the visit to Gegharkunik region, the president held a  meeting on the problems of Lake Sevan with the participation of  officials responsible for the sphere and other interested persons.  During the meeting, reports were reported on the work carried out in  accordance with the comprehensive program for the restoration of fish  stocks in Lake Sevan and the development of fish culture, as well as  the activities of the Lake Sevan Commission, environmental objectives  and development programs in the Sevan National Park. The president  was also presented with a digital model of the terrain and relief  that was developed by the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre  under the Government of the Republic of Armenia at an altitude of  1,900-1,905 meters in the territory of the Sevan National Park, as  well as the geodetic material included in it, the joint  implementation of the state non- park "Sevan" "works on  specification.

Following the meeting, a number of assignments were given to the  relevant industry leaders. In particular, it was entrusted during  2019 to fully complete the work of the current stage of restoration  of the emergency sections of the Arpa-Sevan tunnel, providing for  this a commensurate amount of financing. Upon completion of these  works, it is expected that the volumes of water moving through the  tunnel to Lake Sevan will almost double in comparison with current  volumes, amounting to 200-250 million kb.m.

In order to continuously improve the water quality of the rivers  flowing into Lake Sevan, the Ministry of Nature Protection and the  State Water Committee of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources  were instructed to develop measures to increase the efficiency of the  use of wastewater treatment plants built on the territory of large  settlements in the Lake Sevan basin and take measures in the  direction of stimulating work on the location of local sewage  treatment plants on the part of tenants who conduct economic  activities on the territory of the state non-profit organization  "National Park" Sevan "".

The Ministry of Nature Protection has also been instructed to  continue work to increase the number of public beaches and to  organize an accelerated rate of clearing operations on flooded areas  resulting from water level increase, by submitting proposals for  financing planning for government discussion.