Category: Albania

Lake Ohrid Stocked with a Hundred Thousand Units of Ohrid Trout

9/1/2013

Source: Falanga.com.au

Minister of Agriculture , Forestry and Water Management Ljupco Dimovski today in Ohrid attended the stocking of the lake with the offspring of endemic Ohrid trout .

In the lake waters were omitted hundred thousand trout offspring from this year’s spawning, nine months from fertilization of the roe and six months of age , with an average weight of 2 and 2.5 grams and length between six and eight millimeters .

- This is a regular activity according to the Law on Fisheries and Aquaculture , in which the state is responsible for stockingbased on fishing grounds prepared by competent authorities . In that process of stocking since 2006 the lake was stocked with about 14 million units for what were invested funds in the amount of about 35 million denars, Dimovski said .

For this , he explained that provided are approximately 2.1 million units Ohrid trout , the activity will be completed by the end of the next month .

In order to better protect the fish fund , this year was chosen concessionaire , who in addition of rights has additional responsibilities.

- The obligation of the concessionaire is to take care of the lake , fish fund , especially about the number and age of the fish . The state has the obligation , in cooperation with institutions authorized by artificial spawning to make stocking on Macedonian side of the lake, Minister Dimovski said. More....

Balkan Lynx Conservation Unifies Neighboring Countries

7/31/2013

Source: News.mongabay.com

By Tanya Dimitrova

They still call the Balkans “the Powder Keg of Europe.” For good reason too: bloody ethnic and religious conflicts in the past decades have left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. As recently as 2001, the army in Macedonia was fighting with ethnic Albanians, many of them from Kosovo.

However, in the past seven years a rare and charismatic wild cat – the Balkan lynx (Lynx lynx balcanicus) – is serving to unify countries with troubled historical and political relations. Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro are collaborating on a joint conservation strategy for the Critically Endangered animal.

Lynx, like their larger distant cousins the cougars, like to roam and hunt in huge areas (up to 200 square miles). They do not know or respect political borders. Each country is proud of having this species on its territory. However, to ensure lynx’s long-term survival, each has no choice but to cooperate with the neighboring countries.

“For anyone, who knows some basic Balkan history, this is quite amazing,” says Aleksandër Trajçe, one of the Project Managers for the Balkan Lynx Recovery Program.

Lynx on the Balkans

A genetically distinct subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, the Balkan lynx is critically endangered with less than 60 individuals surviving in the wild. It is only known to roam the forests of two Balkan countries: Macedonia and Albania. Researchers believe that there might be some lynx also in Kosovo and Montenegro. More....

Man Arrested on Charges of Smuggling Turtles at Detroit-Windsor Border

7/17/2013

Source: Freep.com

By Keith Matheny

Canadian border agents were likely shell-shocked.

A 22-year-old Windsor man crossing into Canada from Detroit on July 6 via the Ambassador Bridge was stopped for a secondary inspection. In his vehicle, hidden in a storage compartment for seats, officers discovered 76 live turtles and tortoises.

Border service officers arrested Xin Hong Tong, who is charged with smuggling, failure to report the animals, making false statements and attempting to evade payment of duties and taxes.

The arrest highlights the lucrative, illicit world of trafficking exotic animals, their parts or their products. The U.S. is second only to China as a consumer of the illegal items, and the worldwide black-market trade is in the billions of dollars, according to Ed Grace, deputy director of law enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Windsor arrest came five days after President Barack Obama issued an executive order to enhance coordination of U.S. efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and assist foreign governments in combating it and related organized crime.

Canadian officials did not release all the types of turtles recovered in the stop, but placed their value at more than $6,000 in U.S. funds. The seizure included several marginated tortoises, which originate from an area near Greece and Albania and require certification of captive breeding before sale under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, an international antismuggling treaty.

Grace noted that turtles can be smuggled as food items or, more commonly, for the pet trade. More....

Leaps and Bounds

8/19/2010

Source: Courseforsustainability.org

By Pan Parks Foundation

(Rupicapra rupicapra) is a European goat-antelope species that inhabits steep, rocky mountainsides, alpine forests and grassy slopes above the tree line. Chamois are brave animals with special skills developed to ensure their survival in very remote wilderness areas and in highly challenging mountain conditions such as snow blizzards, low temperatures and limited food resources. Native populations develop in an island-like fashion in the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps, the Central Italian Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Balkan Mountains, certain parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. Due to the isolation and inaccessibility of these areas, most of these mountains are occupied by two species and several subspecies specific to each range. Within the EU, the chamois species is strictly protected under the European Habitats Directive.

Species history in Europe
The chamois was traditionally an important game animal for people living in the mountains: It was hunted for food, as well as for its skin and horns, the latter which was used to prepare certain medicines. Human pressure on mountain areas started to increase in the 17th and 18th centuries, and logging and grazing resulted in continued expansion of suitable habitats for chamois. Deforestation not only created more favourable food conditions for the species, but also led to the extinction of big carnivores, which had greatly affected their numbers. These artificially created conditions significantly increased population density, but this in turn caused a gradual worsening in the health condition of the Alpine chamois, for example. Viral infections and other diseases typical of the chamois in the Alps made this subspecies subject to a dramatic change of population dynamics. In contrast, subspecies in other regions such as the Carpathians, Balkan and Dinaric mountains, where native populations of carnivores survived, are much healthier and less vulnerable to infections, allowing for a more balanced population dynamics in those areas.

A wilderness species
In a heavily exploited continent like Europe, large and properly managed high-mountain wilderness areas are critical to the chamois' survival. Enclosing the animal or keeping it in captivity is difficult and often results in death. The key, then, to the future of the species lies is in situ management - i.e. leaving them wild in their natural environment. According to data from the Large Herbivore Foundation (LHF), the largest non-fragmented area for chamois is to be found in the Alps, with a population of over 80,000 animals in Swiss territories, and about 20,000 in Germany. More....

Programme Aims to Save the Balkan Lynx

3/5/2009

Source: Setimes.com

The Balkan lynx has faced the threat of extinction for more than a decade, but conflicts in the region in the 1990s and the preceding hardships prevented conservational action. The species -- which lives in Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo -- is estimated to number around 100, but some in the region say there are only around 40 of these beautiful cats in existence.

The Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme -- developed and implemented by several international and national NGOs in 2006 -- aims to protect the animal, which is struggling to survive the twin threats of poaching and loss of habitat.

Poachers prize the animal for its fur and have little fear of punishment, since nobody has ever been prosecuted for hunting it.

Encroaching deforestation also threatens the lynx, since it and its quarry inhabit the woods. The wildcats, which can reach a height of 65cm and weight of 25kg, prey mainly on roe deer and hares.

Although some rural dwellers consider the animal dangerous, there are no recorded instances of a Balkan lynx attacking a human and only four documented cases of one attacking a farm animal.

Switzerland's KORA, Germany's EuroNatur, the Macedonian Ecological Society and Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania are some of the conservation partners. More....

In Macedonia and Albania, Last 100 Balkan Lynx Face Possible Extinction

3/5/2009

Source: Balkantravellers.com

The survival of the rare Balkan lynx, of which 100 members at most live in the wilds of Macedonia and Albania, is critically endangered. However, initiatives aimed at battling the causes of their disappearance are underway.

Long seen as an unofficial national symbol in Macedonia, the Balkan lynx - a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, is featured on both a postal stamp and a coin. With a short tail, long legs and thick neck, the tufts of hair on both ears are the defining characteristic of the lynx.

“The Balkan lynx population, estimated at about 100 individuals, lives in Albania, Macedonia and parts of Serbia-Montenegro in isolation from the lynx populations of Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia,” according to the European Nature Heritage Fund – EuroNatur, a non-profit foundation. “While the latter are derived from reintroduced specimen from the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan lynx is represents the original subspecies of lynx indigenous to the Balkan Mountains.”

Although, as reported by the Scientific American magazine, the species is legally protected in both Albania and Macedonia, its rarity has also made it misunderstood and easily targeted. “There seems to be a lack of knowledge about the species and the legislation,” Manuela von Arx of the Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme (BLRP) said.

There is a monitoring scheme underway in western Macedonia’s Mavrovo National Park and in Albania in cooperation with the Swiss-based research group KORA, EuroNatur and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. In addition to determining the cats’ status via camera data, research and interviews, the project aims to establish protected areas for the animal and help local authorities develop a conservation strategy.

While a more detailed protection plan is expected to be completed by the end of the year, the BLRP is currently focusing on education and awareness to battle the causes of the species’ extinction. More....

Poachers Put Balkan Lynx on Brink of Extinction

2/21/2009

Source: Google.com

The camera sits hidden in a field ready to track every move of the Balkan lynx, a wild cat both revered as an icon and reviled as a pest that has teetered on extinction for nearly a century."The lynx has no natural enemy except man," said Georgi Ivanov, an ecologist working on a project to monitor lynx numbers in western Macedonia's Galicica National Park, where 30 such cameras have been set up.

Poaching is one of the biggest threats to the survival of this Balkan subspecies of the European lynx, the largest wild cat found on the continent.

Though its overall numbers are uncertain, they seem to hover dangerously around the 100 scientists say are needed for their population to remain stable.

In Albania and Macedonia, foreign experts put their number at less than 80 though local counterparts say there are fewer than 40. The estimates in neighbouring Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia are even worse.

Lynx are killed by villagers in the impoverished region mainly for their prized fur, a spotted golden-brown. But dwindling forests and a lack of prey are also factors in their decline, experts say.

"The main cause of the extinction threat is illegal hunting, as well as environmental destruction and, above all, uncontrolled forest cutting," said biologist Dime Melovski of the Macedonian Ecological Society.

The monitoring scheme is also underway in Mavrovo National Park, also in western Macedonia, and in Albania in cooperation with the Swiss-based research group KORA, Germany's Euronatur and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA). More....