Hello stranger! At first, we would like to wellcome you with a nice video about fishing on Belá river in Liptovský Hrádok.

The whole world is developing at a rapid pace, and fishing is evolving with it. In a place where sometimes all you had to do was dip your fishing hook into the water and fish were jumping right into your landing net, now even the skilled fishermen have a hard time to catch a fish. It is unthinkable to still catch and take fish without promoting their life cycle, and protecting their environment.

It is not only for these reasons that we support the activity of planting eggs of native fish species in capillaries and small tributaries of our rivers. To increase the roe’s odds of survival in harsh conditions, we use so-called Vibert Boxes, that serve as protection during the incubation period. We store the boxes in crates which we then deliver to streams and during the period from December to March we regularly clean and check them.

Small fish that hatch in this way in our streams have been writing natural instincts and wild fish behavior into their genes since their childhood. These habits are extremely valuable to them later in adult life. Whether it is the case of breeding, food hunting or protection against predators.

We all feel obliged to inform fishermen and the public about this issue. That is why, from our point of view, this activity in many other cases, might be even more important than the fishing itself, which for us is only the cherry on top after days of hard work.

This is just one of the activities we are trying to do. Our long-term goal is to return native fish species to our rivers in the best quality and quantity.

If you are interested in the details of our activities, do not hesitate to contact us easily through email at info@mosrzlh.sk.

Further activities are directed towards the conservation of these native fish species, especially their natural environment. We perceive the insensitive interference in the morphology of our river troughs as a big negative. In many cases without sufficient expertise and emphasis on the survival of the wild stocks of our fish.

We also strongly oppose the construction of new transverse barriers on our flows. These barriers largely, represent small hydroelectric power plants, which significantly interfere with the migration of our native fish species. From our point of view, their negative effects outweigh their small positives, from where, moreover, the whole society doesn’t participate, but just the selected individuals. We are also trying to inspire abroad, where approaches to small hydropower plants are beginning to re-evaluate and tend to remove them rather than build new barriers.

If you are interested in this topic and would like to know more, check out the Blue Heart movie about Europe, which describes the importance of free-flowing rivers for humans, fishermen and the environment. And how they try to protect their rivers in the Balkans. The film in English is here:

Another one of our goals is maintaining the genetic quality of our fish. During our short term in the committee, we find that stocking is not just about the quantity of fish but largely about their genetic quality. This is why we are constantly trying to provide our rivers with the best possible quality and at the right age to be able to learn the habit of wild fish and in the best-case scenario, to raise and sustain new generation herds of indigenous fish species that will spawn naturally and produce the most natural offspring of the highest quality. If you would like to know more about artificial fish farming and its impact on indigenous fish stocks, we attach an interesting movie that left us speechless. The link is here:

As one of our other goals (certainly not the last one) is to protect our fish from predators. We perceive otter, heron or cormorant as the biggest threats. Since we have very limited regulations in this regard, we want to ask you, our members and guests to inform us about your observations during your fishing trips. Based on the observations, we will be able to plan fishing more effectively or organize the protection of our districts by scaring the animals.

As you can see, there are many activities and in many cases, individuals are not enough. That’s why we want to ask you, we have over 400 members, so let’s work together. No one in the committee sees their work as an obligation or a way of gaining benefits. On the contrary, we want to build a functioning community of people working on a common idea with enthusiasm and joy. So that as fishermen from Liptovský Hrádok we can proudly stand in front of the public and show off what we have achieved. We value all hands on deck as well as a financial contribution in any form.

We hope to see you soon by the water!

Committee of MO SRZ LH