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Kyrgyzstan: Lake Issyk-kul Management and Biodiversity Conservation

On 24 October 2003, the LakeNet Secretariat and the Directorate General of the Issyk-kul Biosphere Reserve signed a Memorandum of Cooperation at a seminar celebrating the 55th Anniversary of the establishment of the first State Reserve on Lake Issyk-kul in Kyrgyzstan. The two groups agreed to work together on the conservation and sustainable development of Lake Issyk-kul and its drainage basin. LakeNet also awarded a small grant to the Biosphere Reserve Directorate General with funding from USAID for technology transfer and operating expenses related to inventorying protected areas around Lake Issk-kul and conserving biodiversity of the second largest alpine lake in the world. As part of the technical cooperation, LakeNet and the Issyk-kul Biosphere Reserve will be implementing a pilot project to demonstrate the use of GIS mapping technology in the management of Lake Issyk-kul and its drainage basin.

During a LakeNet field visit to Lake Issyk-kul, a specimen of a fish unique to the lake was caught by a local fisherman near the Jeti Oguz River on 19 October 2003. The identification of the fish known as the Naked Osman (Diptychus dybowskii Kessl.) was confirmed by Avazbek Japarovich Aryonov, a fisheries expert and Deputy Director of the Biosphere Reserve. The fish was thought-to-be extinct and had not been seen in the lake for more than four years, despite intensive efforts to catch it for the purpose of documenting its existence and restoring the fish to the lake. Groups around the lake have been working to restore the Naked Osman as part of an overall effort to protect biological diversity of the lake. The population of the native Issyk-kul fish species declined when species of trout and whitefish from Lake Sevan and other lakes were introduced into the lake beginning in 1930. The introduced species were considered more desirable for commercial fishing, but eventually, the Sevan trout in particular provided far too much competition for the Naked Osman, forcing it to the edge of extinction.

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Updates

10/27/2003 - LakeNet Staff Complete Reconnaissance Trip to Lake Issyk-kul
LakeNet president David Read Barker and director Lisa Borre conducted a reconnaissance trip to Lake Issyk-kul in Kyrgyzstan from 14-26 October 2003 as part of USAID grant-funded Technical Assistance activities. One of the key outcomes of the trip included the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Directorate General of the Issyk-kul Biosphere Reserve.

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Documents

I want to provide feedback on a posted draft document.

Issyk-Kul  (PDF) Experience Brief. Final. Baetov, R.. English. 2/27/2006.

LakeNet Site Visit of Lake Issyk-kul  Web page. Draft. LakeNet Secretariat. 10/21/2003.

Memoradum of Cooperation Between the Directorate General of Issyk-kul Biosphere Reserve and the LakeNet Secretariat  Partnership Agreement. Final. Russian. 10/24/2003.

Memorandum of Cooperation Between the Directorate General of the Issyk-Kul Biosphere Reserve and the LakeNet Secretariat  Partnership Agreement. Final. English. 10/24/2003.

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Participating Lakes

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Participating Organizations

The following organizations are participating in this program:

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