Yuzno.com

Environmentalists are again sounding alarm over the future of the unique population of the Western Pacific gray whales.
This time, Exxon Neftegaz Limited (ENL), a participant in oil projects on Sakhalin, is laying a pipeline via the Piltun Bay, a key feeding area for the gray whales.
Any negative impact on this area during […]

Public hearings on the issue "Confirmation of general admissible catch of Pacific salmon for 2008" were held in the Area Administration. Officials and representatives of fishing community listened to the report of the representative of SakhNIRO on the forecast of approach of salmon this year, the department of information policy of the Sakhalin Area Administration […]

Quotas for crab catches have been slashed by 20 percent for the year 2008 and the catches are allowed for scientific purposes only, a spokesman for Goskomrybolovstvo, or Russian Fishing Committee, Alexander Savelyev said Wednesday.
According to Goskomrybolovstvo’s fishing quotas, allowable quotas for crab stand at 51,761 metric tons, a 20-percent decrease compared to 61, […]

Russia’s environmental regulator said on Wednesday it is fining the operator of the Sakhalin II oil and gas project in the Far East more than 390 million rubles ($15.8 million) for deforestation.
Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, said Sakhalin Energy had the option of paying the damages voluntarily. Otherwise, “the damages will be obtained […]

An environmental impact report produced for potential lenders to the Sakhalin-2 oil and natural gas development project in Russia’s Far East gave an overall green light, with some reservations, to the project.
The report, to be released Tuesday, is important for the viability of the $20 billion project because it allows for a series of […]

The total area of fires raging in the Russian Far East has increased tenfold, from 18 to 170 hectares (44.5 to 420 acres), in the past 24 hours, a source in the local emergencies service said Thursday.
The number of fires in Far Eastern taiga doubled - from four to eight - but currently pose no […]