Programs
Russian Salmon Fund Officially LaunchesNews & Program Updates
More than 100 people were in attendance at the opening ceremony for the Russian Salmon Fund (RSF) held in Moscow on June 8. The Russian Salmon Fund was originally conceived by a small group of fishing enthusiasts with a desire to protect the environment. That idea was then supported by numerous groups in Russia. The Wild Salmon Center has provided critical startup support for the Fund and staff members Dave Martin, Andrei Klimenko, and Board member Academician Dmitry Pavlov were there to celebrate the official launch. Attendees came from as far away as Sakhalin, Murmansk, Khabarovsk, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Europe and the United States.
The event was a combination of official ceremony and festive celebration, where attendees were able to discuss the bright future of the Russian Salmon Fund. Among the speakers were Gennady Inozemtsev, Head of the Managing Board, and several important figures in the Russian salmon conservation movement. The Head of Science Department of the Russian Fisheries Agency, Dr. Vladimir Belyaev, attended and highlighted the important role of the RSF in the conservation of wild salmon populations. Olga Krever, the Deputy Head of State Ecological Policy at the Department of Ministry of the Environmental Resources and Ecology, also attended, as did a team from the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. There were numerous nonprofits represented and members of the press to document the event.