13 September 2012: The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is providing support to a project to restore two critically endangered species of trout in Lake Sevan in Armenia. The species are threatened as a result of unsustainable industrial and hydroelectric use of the lake.

Two subspecies of Sevan trout are considered extinct. In order to restore the population of the other two remaining subspecies, which are critically endangered and endemic to the lake, the project will create a fish hatchery and promote awareness raising in local communities. Construction of the hatchery should be completed by the end of 2012, and trout releases are scheduled for 2013.

The project plans to assist the local population in providing jobs both related directly to the hatchery and through the promotion of eco-tourism, and in giving the fishery outflow water to 30 local households to use for irrigation. Global Eco, a community-based environmental organization, is the GEF SGP grantee and in charge of the project’s implementation at the local level. [GEF Press Release]