This was revealed to the Norwegian newspaper, Nordlys by Professor Vladimir A. Potelov of the
Archangel department of the Russian Institute of Marine Research (PINRO). Potelov is one of the scientists
who have received such an offer. 300 US dollars is a fabulous salary for a Russian researcher. As
employees of PINRO we are given far less, and we are not even guaranteed that our wages will be paid at
all. I find it extremely disturbing that rich organisations in the West can operate in such a way. This can hit
both our research, and a hunt that people in Northern Russia are totally dependent on. Should IFAW succeed
in such procurement, the foundations on which we base our advice on how to manage harp seals will be
taken away, says Potelov to Nordlys . He believes that one or two scientists have already accepted IFAW’s
offer. I can easily understand them, the Russian economic situation being as it is, but as scientists we
cannot waive the right to use the scientific data necessary to provide the best possible advice on how to
manage sealing, says Potelov.
Personal Grants
Norway and Russia work together on the management of the harp seal stocks. Both
countries operate a seal hunt. Both we and the Russians carry out a hunt for research
purposes in addition to the fact that we make use of data from the ordinary seal hunt,
says professor Tore Haug of the Norwegian School of Fisheries in Tromsø to the
newspaper Nordlys . Data from the hunt provides us with knowledge which would be
difficult to obtain in any other way. Norwegian research would also suffer if Russian
researches were bought in order to prevent the use of data from the hunt, says Haug.
IFAW has also financed projects for seal researchers in the West, but similar
conditions to those found in conjunction with the Russian contracts are unknown.
Founder of IFAW, Brian Davis, visited the Institute in Archangel this autumn. During
talks with Mr. Yuri Timochenko, the leader of the Institute, he made an offer of financial
support on condition that PINRO was willing to sever all contact with the sealing trade. At
first, this was to take place in the form of an annual grant of 250 million rubles to the
Institute over a period of three years. Later, the arrangements were altered to consist of
offers of personal grants to each individual scientist in addition to an annual 20,000 US
dollar grant to the Institute. It is PINRO’s responsibility to secure the knowledge necessary
for the management of marine mammal stocks in the Barents Sea and along the northern
coast of Russia. PINRO’s institute in Archangel has 70 employees. 8 researchers work on
marine mammals, including the substantial stocks of harp seals.