Poster 16: Restoration of free fish migration in Flanders

The European freshwater fish fauna comprises almost 200 species. 67 of these are threatened because of structural human interference in watercourses. Almost half of these structural interferences cause physical migration barriers for fish populations. For a sustainable improvement of the fish fauna in Flanders, there is a necessity to improve the possibilities of fish migration, together with the improvement of the water quality. It will allow fishes to migrate in a natural manner to the appropriate habitats and to colonize the rather poorly-stocked (due to pollution) rivers. In the Benelux Decree M 96 (5) of 26 April 1996, the involved governments decided that free fish migration in all hydrographical stream basins should be restored at latest by 2010. The need for a good hydro-morphological quality was also highlighted in the European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EU. In Flanders, the policy in relation to fish migration is coordinated by the Water Section of AMINAL. This policy is developped in cooperation with the working group on fish migration in which all the water managers are represented. The scientific support is provided by the Institute for Forestry and Game Management, the Institute of Nature Conservation and Flanders Hydraulics. In order to tackle the watercourses with great value and strategic importance first, a network of priority fish migration routes was identified (3,000 km of the existing 20,000 km of watercourses). These watercourses were assessed by the Institute for Forestry and Game Management and the University of Antwerp (UIA). The problematic fish migration nodes were integrated in a database which can be consulted via http://vismigratie.instnat.be. Based on the database, a financial plan and an action programme for the restoration of free fish migration were developed.