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dam-l Elbe Salmon back after 51 years
Pressrelease 10.11.98:
AFTER A 51-YEAR-LONG ABSENCE, SALMON ARE BACK ON THE ELBE RIVER
Fifty-one years after the last salmon disappeared from the Elbe river, about 30 salmon measuring between 60 and 70 cm were seen on a tributary
of the river, located between Dresden and the Czech frontier, in the Saxonian state. The 26th of october 1998, the inhabitants of the village of
Rathmannsdorf noticed the presence of the king of freshwater fish below a small weir, on a stream with a predestined name : « Lachsbach »,
which means in German « the salmon’s stream» !
After examination of four specimens, it was confirmed that they were indeed salmon which had been released in the Elbe since 1996, as part of
the « Elbe-Salmon 2000 » program. The salmon actually came back near the area were they had been released, a place located about 10 km from
the salmon hatchery used for the breeding. Intiated by the Saxonian state’s Agency for Agriculture and Fisheries, and supported by the «
Living Elbe » coordination, the « Elbe-Salmon 2000 » program began in 1995 when eggs started being produced, notably from wild Swedish
stocks. The salmon experts based their work on the hypothesis that Elbe salmon were genetically closer to Baltic salmon stock - which can live
in rivers prone to freezing - than to Loire and Allier salmon. In 1996, the first juveniles were released, and then began their long journey to
Hamburg on the estuary, and then to the open sea, off the shores of Groenland in the North Atlantic.
This first success demonstrates, if necessary, that one needs only a few things to have salmon back on a river : no or few dams and a fairly
clean river ! The main course of the Elbe has indeed only one dam between the mouth of the river and the upper part, upstream from Dresden,
which is located on the estuary and has been equipped with an efficient fishladder. As for water quality, it improved spectacularly since
Germany’s reunification in 1989. In the post-war era, the Elbe was turned into a sewer with the construction of huge chemical « Kombinats » - it
became the most polluted river in Europe. Since 1989, a depollution program was launched, which included the construction of about 70
purification plants.
But this success also required - and this is the most important - a real political will behind the decision that it was important to have salmon
back on the river and behind the breeding program. And if the first positive steps have been achieved rapidly, as the salmon were released only
two years ago at most, lots of determination will still be needed to confirm this come-back. The next step will be to see if salmon reproduce
naturally in the « Lachsbach ». If this is the case, it will be possible to consider that the natural cycle has resumed and that there is good hope
to see a healthy salmon population settle back on the Elbe basin on the long term.
The goals are now to continue improving water quality and reintroduce salmon in other tributaries of the Elbe, in Germany and in the Czech
Republic, notably in the Saxonian Switzerland National Park which straddles the two states. The question will then be the decommissioning of
small or middle-size dams which keep salmon from migrating up many streams and sterilize hundreds of hectares of spawning grounds.
Following the example of the demolition of the Saint-Etienne-du-Vigan and Maisons-Rouges dams on the Loire basin in France, the Saxonian
state’s Agency for Agriculture and Fisheries and the Living Elbe coordination have already asked that some dams be dismantled to open up
their ancient spawning grounds to salmon.
ERN European Rivers Network Roberto EPPLE
+49 171 7532414 or +33 471 02 08 14 Fax +33 471 02 60 99 ern@rivernet.org www.rivernet.org
<bigger>Roberto A. EPPLE
</bigger>Executive Director, ERN-European Rivers Network
e-mail : ern@rivernet.org website: http://www.rivernet.org
Main & Westeuropean Office:
8 Rue Crozatier, 43000 Le Puy, France
Tel +33 (0) 471 02 08 14 Fax +33 (0) 471 02 60 99
North-European Office:
Poststrasse 7 c/o Projekt Lebendige Elbe, DUH
D - 06366 Koethen, Deutschland
Tel +49 (0) 3496 21 00 09 Fax +49 (0) 3496 21 00 08
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