In the Uglegorsk district, a large program of the East Mining Company for voluntary stocking of the rivers of the urban district has started. This idea was also raised by the local community. The initiative was supported by the EMCO. The time-consuming and slow process of issuing all permits took almost a year.

It really wasn't easy. It was necessary to conduct research on the number of populations that could be released. All scientific councils had to agree. And we had to substantiate this for a long time together with SakhNIRO. And we agreed to say at the last moment, although our fish were already growing, and we were very worried. We want to replenish the salmon population in the Uglegorsk district, - said Alla Babina, chief ecologist of the East Mining Company.

The fry grew up at a fish-breeding plant in the village of Urozhaynoye, Tomarinsky district, since August last year. The process is long and painstaking: from laying eggs to the appearance of live fry. Then, in comfortable factory conditions, fattening pink salmon to the desired size and preparing for the "graduation".

Pink salmon very quickly rolls down from a fresh water reservoir into the sea. And she has plenty of food in the sea. It's biology is like this: it doesn’t stay in a fresh water reservoir for a long time, - Olga Shepel, the chief fish farmer of Urozhayny, admonished her graduates.

The acceptance procedure took several hours, the experts carefully checked not only all the necessary documentation, but also the condition of the fish themselves, their size and weight. The road to Lesogorka took about 8 hours. They were released into the river after midnight. Moreover, this is the right strategy. In the dark, the fry will be able to adapt to new conditions and can hide from predators. Then, within a few days, the juveniles will “roll” into the sea. The whole process was accompanied not only by ecologists of the EMCO, representatives of the administration of the Uglegorsk urban district, specialists from SakhNIRO, Glavrybvod and SKTU, but also community members of the district.

It is certainly good when our natural resources are restored, especially in our Uglegorsk region. Ecological problems are voiced, and the population is raised. The EMCO goes to meet people, interacts, tries to improve the situation. And this is really a big event for our entire district, - Tatyana Kozlova, deputy of the Uglegorsk Assembly, comments.

A lot of research and work that the EMCO company, its ecologists, Sakhalin scientists have been doing during the year will yield important results in the future. Science has already given the go-ahead for stocking three rivers in the Uglegorsk region until 2026. And with further study of the potential of reservoirs, other rivers of the district will also be able to get into the program.

We add that in 2022 the company released 80,000 pink salmon fry into the Chernaya River. In addition, on June 1, 2023, stocking was carried out in the Chernaya River of the Tomarinsky District. 20,000 pink salmon fry were released by specialists from the Boshnyakovo coal mine, 12,500 from the coal seaport of Shakhtersk and 22,000 from the Solntsevsky coal mine. More than 7,000 fry were purchased by the administration of the Uglegorsk GO, these kids also went to the Chernaya River. For spawning, the grown fish will return to the rivers that have become native within the next two to three years.