During the second-to-last week of
the 2012 season, we met World Wildlife Fund program managers from Britain, China,
Malaysia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United States. They had
been camping out in somewhat less than our anglers’ accustomed style and seemed
cheered to see the dining tent with wood stove, tablecloths, and wine glasses.
But what started out as an
information-sharing event ended on a more celebratory note. In wildlife
circles, the working partnership among Nomadic Journeys, Mongolia River Outfitters, WWF, and six local governments has become a conservation success
story. Through an innovative public awareness campaign—using a little bit of
everything, from bumper stickers to text messages—an environmental ethic that
might have taken decades to germinate has flowered in just four years.
It’s no stretch to say that, in
earlier times, taimen survived in far northern Mongolia because few people
cared enough to kill them. That changed in the late 1990s, when tourists and
anglers began to arrive from other countries; since the mining boom, angler
numbers have further swelled with weekend warriors from Mongolia’s newly
prosperous capital.
When Rare’s Pride campaign began in
2008, slightly more than a third of survey respondents in the district
“strongly agreed” that taimen should always be released. By this year, that
figure was more than 95 percent. Not all of these folks like to fish, of
course, but those numbers are growing as well. In 2009, members of local angling clubs caught and released
68 taimen; that number had nearly quadrupled by 2011.
Conservation efforts continue with
the work of a few dedicated staff, a core of volunteers, and the support of
individual and corporate donors, including a generous grant from Patagonia’s World Trout Initiative.
Just before spawning season—when
large fish are particularly vulnerable—the local WWF office held anti-poaching
trainings for police officers, park rangers, and angling club members. In these
sessions—and in all other campaign materials—taimen are not portrayed as
treasures to be hoarded. Long-lived and slow-growing, these fish are more like
our honored companions (or perhaps we are theirs).
While it is true that taimen are astounding and beautiful creatures on their own, they cannot exist without a healthy river. If we were ever to lose them, it would only underscore the more painful fact that the river also had been lost.
(For more info and photos, see "Conserving Taimen," posted on July 27, 2012.)
