Anglers alarmed at "diminishing stocks of fish"

The Cantonal Office of Forestry and Fishery (AWW) recently published a report which said that Lake Aegeri was doing well as a fish habitat, though it did notice fewer fish were living at depths below 30 metres even though there was sufficient oxygen there.

However, local angler Eddie Zwahlen, who has been fishing in Lake Aegeri for 30 years, was somewhat surprised by the report as he thought the situation was far from satisfactory, not least because of over-fishing. “And if this goes on there will be even fewer fish caught,” he said.

Indeed, not only has he caught fewer fish in recent years, so have a number of his fellow anglers, saying how, for example, there are hardly any more lake char left and not many pike, either. “What is more, if the cantonal authorities are saying there are no fish at depths yet fail to ask why, it is if they are closing their eyes to the problem. It leads one to ask if fishing in the lake is actually sustainable at all,” he complained.

Zwahlen feels that one reason behind the fewer fish is net fishing and called for the time when it is permitted to be restricted. He also feels the holes in the nets should be made bigger to allow young fish to swim through, survive and go on to breed themselves. “What needs to be done is for all of us involved to sit round a table and work out framework conditions,” he said.

The deputy chairman of the Lake Aegeri Angling Association, Karl Roth, agreed with Zwahlen. He, too, has noticed dwindling stocks of fish in recent years, with much smaller fish being caught of late. “These really ought to be put back so they can breed,” he said, echoing Zwahlen’s thoughts. As an example, he mentioned the current average length of perch being 20 cm, whereas as years ago they were 25 cm long. He put the problem down to mistakes made in the Nineties, when larger nets were permitted and conservation levels for whitefish and perch were reduced.

In talking with the 130 members of the association, Roth said how, of late, 21 of them had caught only 7kg of fish, “very little compared with years ago,” he said, insisting something must be done.

Indeed, he is now sifting through this latest report and will thereafter write directly to the cantonal government expressing his concerns, calling for stricter measures to ensure more fish flourish.

So much for the views of amateur anglers, what about an opinion from a professional? Alas, Hanspeter Merz, the only professional fisherman on the lake, was on holiday and not able to be contacted.

For her part, Priska Müller who heads the AWW, insisted numbers of fish caught had remained the same for years and that fishing there was indeed sustainable.