At a press conference held today Boris Gabrielyan, Director of Institute of Hydro-Ecology and Ichthyology of the National Academy of Sciences stated that Lake Sevan no longer has viable fish stocks for commercial use. He said that besides a fish locally called "karas", an undesirable species that competes with others for food and habitat, there are few other native species that reproduce naturally. Mr. Gabrielyan said that two subspecies of Lake Sevan "ishkhan" fish has disappeared all together. He pointed to the fact that this wasn't the case 100, 50 or even as late as 10 years ago. "The government is allocating funds to restock certain species with 3 year-old fingerlings. But their efforts are mostly in vain since much of the restocked fish, once they reach adulthood, are illegally being trapped and fished for commercial purposes. There is no adequate oversight," Mr. Gabrielyan argued. According to the director what is needed is a comprehensive plan to tackle the issue and not just restocking efforts. "The plan must monitor the fish markets and the roadways to see that illegal catches aren't being sold. Also, the socio-economic needs of local residents must be addressed. The only way to make a living for many is to poach fish." Director Gabrielyan also expressed concern about the dwindling whitefish population. In the 1980's it stood at some 30,000 tons but has dropped to 170 tons today."It isn't a commercially viable stock and is just barely enough to preserve a gene pool. It we had banned whitefish fishing five years ago we'd have a better picture today." he declared and called for a ban on whitefish. "For some strange reason, the RoA Ministry of Nature Protection doesn't use the term 'banned' but rather what is 'permitted', arguing that if certain species are permitted to be fished, by logical extension, others must be considered off-limits," he went on to say. Today, only crayfish and "karas" can be legally fished for in Sevan. Referring to plans by GeoProMining to build a processing plant for Sotk gold on the shores of Lake Sevan, Mr. Gabrielyan said that their studies of the matter or continuing but that they hadn't given a green light for the project.