River crossing performance  |   Introduction  |   List of River Crossings  |   Winter Crossing Reports  |   Section 1A  |   Section 1B  |   Section 1C  |   Section 2  |   Section 3  |   Section 4  |  

Sakhalin’s rivers are important in their own right as places of environmental sensitivity and significance. But they are also important to Sakhalin’s people, industry and services. Many of the rivers and streams on Sakhalin Island have salmon spawning in their upper reaches.

We conducted three years of extensive environmental baseline data collection and survey work along the onshore pipeline route to assess the potential impact of pipeline crossings on the environment and, in particular, on salmon streams. This included the classification of all waterways for salmon spawning, significance to salmon resources, the width, physical and hydrological characteristics of the waterway. In addition this research considered construction timing to avoid major salmon runs, migration and spawning.

This work was conducted in conjunction with SakhNiro, the fishery regulatory agency at the regional (Sakhrybvod) and Federal (Tsuren) level. Under Russian legislation the impact of construction on fisheries is compensated via an established system of natural resource compensation payments. The value of the resource is established using set methods, reviewed and approved by Russian authorities and paid into a government fund. By law the compensation paid must be used to improve the fishing industry. The compensation is paid whether or not there is any actual damage.

The pipeline route will cross some 1100 watercourses, which mostly comprise small brooks and streams, but also include a number of rivers.

Key Considerations

• We will work to mitigate the impact of construction on rivers and streams.
• The type of crossing chosen for each river or stream considers all the characteristics of the river or stream including its importance to the fishing industry.
• Works will be carried out at the rivers and streams identified as being of importance to salmon spawning during the winter. This is outside the salmon spawning season when there are no salmon present, and when the water is completely frozen, thereby greatly reducing the impact.