Large-scale tracking survey on fish in the Scheldt Basin
To complete their life cycle, fish migrate between places where they forage for food and where they reproduce. Dams and locks can impede that migration. Although fish passages are being developed, it is not always clear how effective they are.
For De Vlaamse Waterweg nv and the Agency for Nature and Forests, INBO will be tracking at least 200 fish in the coming years, divided into six species. This will be done in the Upper Scheldt and the Lys. In this way, we will find out whether fish can pass the lock-weir complexes, whether or not equipped with a fish passage, and by which route: the fish passage, the locks or the weirs.
The six selected fish species each have a specific lifestyle: the eel migrates to the sea to spawn while the life cycle of the river lamprey is just the other way round. The other four species are common bream, common roach, ide and wels catfish. They complete their entire life cycle in freshwater, but can travel distances of tens of kilometres within it.
Through this study, INBO will gather knowledge on the habitat use and migratory behaviour of these fish, and examine whether they are hampered by the lock/barrage complexes. The knowledge obtained will then contribute to making fish passage more effective.
Image above: Ide (photo Rollin Verlinde - Vildaphoto)