In Germany, it is forbidden by law to go fishing without reasonable cause...
Animal protection law: "Nobody shall cause harm or pain to any animal without reasonable cause"
In Germany, we have always had a
consumption-orientied argumentation for fishing
Fishing is, so to say, the use of fish for consumption,
in contrast to England, for example, where angling
developed in the aristogracy as part of their field sports
and where the playful use of nature is much more socially engrained
In Germany, Catch and Release becomes illegal whenever a
fisherman goes fishing without the intention of taking any fish.
This is where a cultural conflict is developing
between a new generation of anglers, who fish a lot,
inspired by other countries,
and a consumption-oriented attitude of traditional German anglers.
When I look around, I don't even need to catch anything.
That alone is rewarding enough!
Is it really still necessary to stock fish?
Or is it possible to rely on natural reproduction?
and to support your wild trout populations?
We are now on our way to river "Diemel",
There we are meeting two guys who are managing a stretch of the river.
Many people here have the opinion that stocking fish is inevitable
since so much fish is taken for consumption and fishing pressure is too high.
These guys try to manage the river without any stocking of fish at all,
in order to preserve a completely wild population.
We are here to see how they try to achieve this
and how it can be done.
My name is Joerg Sareyka.
I am a freshwater ecologist and biologist.
My name is Jens Eligehausen.
I am a landscape ecologist.
We are here at our stretch of river Diemel,
managed by our association that focuses on nature conservation.
Most fishing associations face the dilemma of
having to keep the anglers happy on the one hand,
and on the other hand wanting to practice
nature-orientated management of your fisheries.
For us, this means that we do not stock any fish whatsoever.
The aim of stocking is usually the increase
or the preservation of a decreasing fish population.
And usually juvenile fish are stocked
in order to increase natural emergence of fish.
However, it is scientifically proven that the prospects of success
are very low when young juvenile fish are stocked.
Unfortunately, that is usually the size that is recommended for stocking.
There are, of course, ecological reasons for a low number of bigger fish.
As a result of stocking smaller fish than the size of the shortage,
I do NOT get a bigger population, but a
rather an alteration of the wild population,
depending of where the hatchery fish come from.
We have done electric fishing to examine the state of our wild fish population
to find our in how far natural reproduction in our river works.
As a result, we get valuable insights into the composition of our fish populations.
Are all prime spots taken?
How good is the population in general?
The main results are
that we have a very good brown trout population,
with a big percentage of young fish from this year
that have hatched this spring.
We could verify a great number of juvenile fish here;
we caught over 600 juveniles in our parts of the river.
Now we know that natural reproduction works so well
that stocking of young fish is not at all necessary to keep this river healthy.
"Brown trout 18cm"
"Brown trout 24cm"
"Grayling 24cm"
That shows that brown trout have very good breeding conditions here
as well as decent living conditions for bigger fish.
Electric fishing helped us to find out that
we have quite a few big fish in our river
that are very important for spawning.
In this case, it is my recommendation to implement a harvesting window,
which means keeping the legal minimum harvesting size
an dadding a maximum harvesting size at about 2/3 of the maximum size the fish
so that fish can be taken within this window
but mortality is reduced and, more importantly,
the big fish, that are so important for reproduction, are protected.
Big fish play an important role as they function as egg reservoirs.
They have a much higher fertility,
and a diverse age structure leads to
different times of spawning,
to different places of spawning,
the overall amount of eggs is spread over a wider area and timespan,
which is an important function of a population with a natural age structure.
Therefore, we have implemented a harvesting window of 35cm to 45cm for brown trout.
I recommend to anybody managing a river, to participate
in the official electric fishing measures within the EU Water Framework Directive
and then ask the right questions and draw the right conclusions.
Do you really have to stock fish?
Or is it possible to rely on natural reproduction?
Is it possible to facilitate wild trout populations?
When fly fishing in Austria, you find various kinds of watersheds.
I think the biggest difference to other countries is the speed of the currents,
which makes it quite difficult for the fisherman.
You need to have a specific skill set to be able to fish a good dead drift
and to be successfull.
Here at rivers Alm and Laudach we have the opportunity to
actively take part in all management decisions.
Generally, Catch and Release fishing is allowed in Austria,
meaning the angler is free to release any caught fish.
I believe that anglers should have the option to release their fish,
but they should also have the option to take a fish home for eating.
That is the traditional idea of fishing,
and therefore should'nt be denied.
We are trying to keep the balance in our rivers as natural as possible
which is not alway easy since we
also have obstruction such as dams in our rivers.
The first thing we did was to fully protect
our native fish species,
which reproduce naturally here.
That means that brown trout and grayling are not allowed to be killed.
I think it is especially important to protect these wild populations
as they have always been here and will be here even after floods etc.
as they are used to the conditions.
It is very important to protect those fish that are important for spawning.
By stocking rainbow trout, which are allowed to be killed,
we have an additional element of protection for our native fish species.
When releasing a fish, it is very important how the fish is being handled
during the fight and landing.
The most important thing is to fight the fish as shortly as possible.
An exhausted fish is much more likely to die after being released.
You should try to keep the drill time as low as possible,
also always keep your hands wet when touching the fish,
to not hurt their protective layer.
Also try not to lift the fish high out of the water,
but try to keep it in or just shortly above the surface.
It is indeed possible to keep mortality to almost zero,
especially when fish are not hooked deep, in low water temperatures,
However, when fish are deeply hooked, in warm water temperatures,
even pike will die at a rate of 30 - 40 %
In my opinion, a healthy balance of wild fish,
catch and release
but also stocking and taking of fish,
is what managing any watershed is all about!
The first fish I have ever caught was a butt,
a really nice, big, fat butt.
and that one went straight into the pan.
It was really delicous too.
It took a really long time until I picked up fly fishing.
As a teenager I had no idea what fly fishing was.
I got to know about it through fishing gear catalogues.
Years later, when I was fishing in the baltic sea with a friend,
we came up with the idea
that we should do something for the sea trout.
I mean look around!
We have amazing weather, are surrounded by nature,
and catch beautiful, wild fish.
All of that with a fly rod!
And that was how we started our Society for the protection of the Landballig tributary
We are the only river in Schleswig Holstein
with its own reproducing population of sea-run brown trout (sea trout)
And that is why it is important to us that the fish
get the chance to spawn at least once in their lifetime.
Most of the fish that enter our tributaries are around 50cm long.
Sometimes 45cm, sometimes 55cm,
but the average size of a first-timer is around 50cm.
And those are sexually mature fish,
in contrast to fish of 40cm.
Historically, minimum harvesting sizes are attempts
to give the fish the chance to spawn at least once before they are killed.
These minimum sizes should be based on scientific studies.
Unfortunately, the size when fish are sexually mature varies,
depending on their living conditions.
So it is relatively difficult to find one minimum
harvesting size that applies to all watersheds.
So it is indeed possible that fish grow so fast in some systems,
that they haven't spawned yet, when they are killed.
After we saw those butchering scenes after the spawning period again,
when all those relatively small fish are killed,
only to justify 50€ of gas money,
We came up with the idea of starting a project
where anglers voluntarily commit themselves
to a minimum harvesting size of 50cm
instead of the official size of 40cm.
"That is how it's supposed to be"
And that is how the "50cm+" project was started!
Obviously, this is a difficult situation
since Catch and Release is illegal in Germany.
But as every fisherman knows,
fish are really slippery sometimes,
which makes argumentation a lot easier, we have found.
This is exactly the problem I see:
NOT that we have a consumption-oriented understanding of fishing,
which is simply the social spirit of our time here,
but rather that alternative management ideas and innovations are scotched.
That is the dilemma that I see at the moment.
It is, of course, much more enjoyable
to know that you are fishing for truly wild fish,
that have spawned and developed here
I believe, we have to publicly document and show,
that it CAN be done differently.
Maybe THEN, people's attitudes and mindsets will eventually change.
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