Former Official Discusses Existence of Shadow Business Around Sig Fish

The former head of the Environmental Inspection, Artur Grigoryan, wrote on his Facebook page: "They say Sevan is 'blooming'. The lake can’t bloom; this phenomenon has a specific name - eutrophication. They say we are all guilty, or it’s the new government, the old government. Not all of us are guilty; specific people are to blame. These individuals have been responsible for the lake's ecosystem for many years, leading to this situation. The same people are still in their same positions, using exactly the same methods. The new is exactly the old—what old and new are you talking about? Let me tell you a story about an unrealized inspection, and then we will talk.

The eutrophication of Lake Sevan is a human-made phenomenon. I am not a chemist, but many experts described this situation years ago, characterizing it as irreversible damage if we continue to tamper with the lake's ecosystem this way. I will present the problem within the context of an inspection; you will draw your own conclusions. I must also say that a comprehensive inspection of Sevan has never been conducted at any time, EVER.

At the end of January this year, we were preparing to conduct an inspection at the 'Sevan' National Park, as dozens of citizens had complained about the illegal fishing of sig fish, since during those days the markets were swarming with this species, while industrial fishing of sig is generally prohibited. I sent a request to the head of the regional division to take action, and he sent hundreds of photos depicting boats and vehicles gathering the fish, complete with license plates. Based on the application, the head of the regional division submitted a report to me on the necessity of conducting inspections in the national park, and I was planning to issue an order to carry out the inspection the very next day after my dismissal.

This is the prescribed procedure for conducting inspections based on complaints. Two weeks prior, at the beginning of January, I contacted Prime Minister Pashinyan through the ceremonial service, describing the problem, the ineffectiveness of joint oversight, and proposed to discuss the issue. I was told to formulate the issue and send it to the Prime Minister in the form of a note. I presented information based on preliminary calculations suggesting that the fishing of sig is not a social issue, as those responsible for its preservation attempt to portray, but a specific shadow business with a turnover of tens of millions of dollars.

I noted that following the inspection, I would present accurate and substantiated information regarding these issues. The Prime Minister discussed this issue in a cabinet meeting and angrily instructed the Minister of Environment to find a solution to the problem along with the police, the Gegharkunik regional administration, and the Environmental Inspection. A few days later, we had a meeting with the police chief and this entire group, where I placed purchased sig canned goods on the table, from which it was clear that they are also being exported.

We also sent a separate letter to the Food Safety Inspection, as without legitimate grounds of raw material acquisition, the sig canned goods could not pass veterinary-sanitary inspection and other necessary food safety processes. In fact, without paying state fees for the use of natural resources, individuals are now openly fishing, selling, reselling, canning, and exporting across customs; yet we say there is no longer corruption in Armenia, that it was once like that, but the same processes are continuing unabated and without being classified as corruption anymore :)

The Inspection also planned to conduct comprehensive inspections at the 'Sevan' National Park in the second quarter of this year, and this was not a secret to anyone, by the way. I will mention the main inspection questions: 1) The entire process of breeding fish in the lake using net pen methods, including the compliance of artificial feeds and their impact on Sevan’s ecosystem, the impact of nitrogen from fish waste settling on the bottom, the actual existence of fry production, etc.; 2) The legality and effect of wastewater flow from adjacent 'objects' into Sevan (whether there are water supply contracts, or if the water is taken from Sevan and returned through a side pipe as wastewater); 3) The legality of widespread renting and construction in coastal areas (according to preliminary data, prominent individuals such as Vova Gasparyan, Seyran Ohanyan, Aram (Bulki) Harutyunyan own houses right by the lake). This is absolutely illegal, and literally no steps have been taken to regulate this issue.

The inspection was supposed to be the one regulating this, and everyone knew this :) By the way, on January 9th of this year, by Order 3-A, the Prime Minister created an interdepartmental working group that was to study the legality of the renting and construction of the areas adjacent to the 'Sevan' National Park within a month and present findings to the Prime Minister. It is interesting what conclusions they have reached, very interesting indeed.

4) The legality of crayfish fishing from the lake, as per the information I have in my hands, only one specific ton of crayfish extracted from the lake has made a nationwide tour through the paperwork of various companies and ended up in obscure processing. It was essential to understand where exactly this crayfish ended up and its real volumes; 5) The cleaning works in the adjacent areas, whether the acquisition of equipment was done properly, or whether the same area had been 'cleaned' several times, but funding was received for different sections; 6) How is the fishing of fish stocks being monitored – it could be that 10-15 people are engaging in proper business under the guise of a 'social issue', and there is no need to regulate this question at all; 7) The impact of the Sotk mine on the lake’s ecosystem and many other questions.

The inspection had a nasty habit of identifying and radically addressing related corrupt mechanisms while studying major problems. Following the inspection of the national park, we were to check interconnected entities to see what was causing the delay in the renovation of the 'Arpa-Sevan' tunnel – could it be that dozens of irrationally constructed HPPs on the Yeghegis river require water, making it unprofitable to launch the tunnel on time, while water from Sevan would be redirected to the Yeghegis river, keeping the lake level low, thus ensuring the properties of the privileged class would not be submerged? Could it be that shareholders of the Sevan-Hrazdan hydro cascade have unjustly enriched themselves by releasing too much water from Sevan and are interested in releasing even more? Is there any additional electricity consumption mechanism?

In short, exactly one week after the meeting with the police chief, the Prime Minister, while in Davos, signed the decision to dismiss me from my position. An inspection of Sevan has yet to take place.”

It should be noted that the decision to dismiss Grigoryan from office has not been substantiated to this day.