According to the ministry's information, the diving service has acquired new boats, as well as winter and summer suits and underwater drones. Thanks to these modern technologies, over the past three years, old poaching nets that had been in the water for decades have been raised from the bottom.
Sabyrzhan Alamanov, head of the diving service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, noted that in 2025, synthetic nets were collected in one place. He clarified that this work was not done over the entire year, but only in the last three to four months, to demonstrate to citizens and those engaged in illegal fishing the negative consequences of their actions.
According to him, these nets cause serious damage to Issyk-Kul and worsen the ecological situation in the lake. Over the past 25–30 years, especially in the last 10 years, an enormous amount of such nets has entered the water body, negatively impacting the environment.
Alamanov added that the cleaning work started in 2023, but it soon became clear that the problem goes beyond surface debris — synthetic nets have filled the lower layers of the water body as well. Currently, the extracted nets are being processed: they are taken out of bags, cut up, and rendered unusable.
According to the head of the diving service, over the past four months alone, more than 141,000 nets have been extracted from one area, and in total, in 2025, divers raised over 151,000 synthetic nets. At the same time, work was also being done to clean up other debris — more than 7 tons of various waste had previously been extracted.
He also noted that some of the collected nets are stored not only at this base but also in other locations, including Grigorievka and the Tyup district, where the diving service bases are also located. In the future, all collected nets are planned to be handed over to the Ministry of Natural Resources after processing and rendering them unusable.
Alamanov emphasized that these actions need to be completed before warm weather sets in, as the nets begin to emit an unpleasant odor.
