"Reforestation" in the river

How grayling babies are revitalizing the idyllic Kamptal valley

The Kamp - a very special kind of natural paradise, especially now in the fall!

(Bild: Molnar Attila)

An ambitious project to protect one of the most wondrous fish species is in full flow in the Waldviertel. Experts from a university are "artificially fertilizing" the Kamp with grayling, so to speak.

The grayling - also known as "Thymallus thymallus" in Latin zoology since Carl von Linee (1707 to 1778) - does not have it easy. This is because a large number of predators such as otters, minks, goosanders, cormorants and grey herons fish mercilessly for this welcome and tasty prey. "This threat is being hushed up by conservationists," says an outraged Helmut Belanyecz, a veteran ecologist who prudently headed the "Board of Trustees for Fisheries and Water Protection" for a small eternity on earth until his retirement. Of course, the biologist also blames the climate change-induced warming of the precious water as well as the damming and regulation of free-flowing stretches of water for the misery under and around the water in his homeland.

Tens of thousands of young grayling are currently enriching the rare aquatic fauna of the Waldviertel jewel.

(Bild: Molnar Attila)

Bringing the grayling population to new (old) heights
However, this in no way diminishes the commitment of the fish conservationists on the Middle Kamp. In fact, the experts Gerhard Käfel, Thomas Friedrich, Günther Unfer and Stephanie Popp from the Institute of Hydrobiology and Water Management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna are doing a great job of keeping the European grayling alive in strong populations. The idealists are focusing on the middle reaches of the romantic waterway between Wegscheid and Rosenburg, which is guarded by Markus Graf Hoyos (recently elected as the new head of Lower Austrian agriculture and forestry).

We are working on establishing a viable grayling population. We are encouraged by initial successes.

Dr. Thomas Friedrich, Äschenretter von der Universität für Bodenkultur in Wien

50,000 "baby scales" by 2028
Last year, a specially constructed breeding container was set up in Steinegg am Kamp for this purpose. Nature is given free rein insofar as eggs are stripped from spawning mother fish that have been carefully removed from their habitat - these are now incubated and bred in real river water. By 2028, 50,000 embryos are to be reared in artificial nests each year and the baby scales will then be released into the precious water.

The experts will raise the little fish in real river water in the breeding container.

(Bild: Molnar Attila)

Despite the flood, this year was considered a particularly successful breeding year. However, the dedicated researchers have to keep a particularly watchful eye on their decade-long project precisely because of the floods. However, the incubator survived the natural disaster well. "Petri Dank" for all the courageous efforts!