After the 2023 disaster

Fish stock in the Sill is being restored

The fishing association with Zacharias Schähle, Hannes Frontull and Andreas Schiechtl with IKB board member Thomas Gasser and Herbert Schmid (from left).(Bild: IKB)

A failed weir flush destroyed almost the entire trout population in the Sill near Innsbruck in May 2023. The damage is now being repaired. And the power plant operator also wants to prevent devastating flushing in future as far as possible.  

In May 2023, a failed weir flushing at an IKB power plant caused a serious wave of sediment that severely damaged the local brown trout population.

Following this incident, those responsible at the municipal utilities and experts from the Tyrolean Fishing Association sat down together to discuss two questions: How can a sustainable rebuilding of the brown trout population be implemented in the best possible way and how can similar incidents be avoided in the future?

We have a great interest in waters that are as intact as possible and therefore support the rebuilding of brown trout stocks over the next few years.

Helmuth Müller, Vorstandsvorsitzender der Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe

Concept developed together with the fishing association
"Incidents like the one in May 2023 are not in our interest," emphasized Helmuth Müller, CEO of Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe AG. "We have a great interest in waters that are as intact as possible and are therefore supporting the development of a stock of brown trout over the next few years." The Tyrolean Fishing Association is in charge of this.

Seedlings - younger brown trout of various sizes - were released into the crystal-clear waters of the Sill.(Bild: IKB)

New life for the mountain river
Regional chairman Andreas Schiechtl explains the method: "On the one hand, fingerlings - i.e. still younger brown trout - of different size classes are released into the wild, and on the other hand, the experts will carry out egg stocking (cocooning and artificial nesting method). This involves burying brown trout eggs in the river bed, imitating a natural brown trout spawning pit, so to speak."

In future, power plant flushing should be carried out more carefully and as ecologically compatible as possible, it was emphasized.