The problems facing sport fisheries in Europe are many and complex. They include problems of water ownership, of increased fishing pressure causing changes in the character of the fishery and of controversy between sport and commercial fishermen. This is further complicated by the increasing level of industrial and domestic pollution, the lack of adequate means to quickly assess the stocks and the rising cost of stock improvement.
In countries where waters are not publicly owned, one of the first problems encountered by the authorities responsible for management and development programmes is the difficulty of establishing the ownership of fishing rights. Apart from certain salmon waters, fishing rights in Northern Ireland, for example, were for many years regarded as having little value. Consequently, they are hard to acquire and are often fragmented. The Ministry has no vested powers and has to rely on acquisition by negotiation. The only exception to this is a power conferred by the Fisheries Act to take over on trust and develop any waters which appear to be derelict.
Having acquired rights, access has to be negotiated. As there are almost invariably a number of riparian owners involved at any water, this can be a tedious process, although, fortunately, most landowners are reported to be cooperative.
In the Republic of Ireland, also, there is growing evidence that the fisheries are not used to their full economic potentialities (Norling and Gaudet, 1968) and this one tends to attribute to lack of clear responsibility on the part of owners whether they be of the private enterprise class or of a cooperative development association type such as a trust. When sport fisheries are either entirely in private hands and managed according to the dictates of private enterprise or, alternatively, where exclusive fishery rights are not asserted, there is often no management as such. The exception to the matter is where waters have by local assent been entrusted for development to a fund or trust, as we find in Ireland, then an orderly regime of fishing emerges based on good will and cooperation rather than on enforcement of management regulations.
Increased population density, particularly in large urban centres, and the resulting fishing intensity and pressure on limited stocks may change the character of the fishery.
Until about 50 years ago in the Netherlands inland fisheries were nearly completely in the hands of professional fishermen and the fishing effort was well spread over all species of which the fish stock was composed. Three factors, have, however, changed this picture completely. Pollution has put an end to the salmon fisheries and has affected the well-being and economic value of other species. Secondly, fishing has become more and more selective. Apart from a certain amount of roach and bream, cyprinids are hardly caught commercially because there is no market for them. This opens the road to unbalanced fish populations with all its dangers. Finally, the development of recreational fisheries has been explosive, especially after World War II (almost one million sport fishermen out of a total population of 13 million people). Apart from Lake Ijssel, the area of inland waters that can support the fish stock is certainly not more than 150 000 ha. Hence, fishing pressure, especially in the rest of Holland, is severe and the Government policy now tends to separate eel fishing, mainly reserved for professional fishermen, from fishing for other species mostly reserved for anglers.
In Ireland the problems caused by competition and controversies between sport and commercial fishermen were in fact instrumental in bringing the severity of this problem to the attention and study of an international audience at the EIFAC Fourth Session (EIFAC, 1966) and subsequent ones (EIFAC, 1968, 1970, 1972). The First European Consultation on the Economic Evaluation of Sport and Commercial Fisheries (Gaudet, 1972), which culminated from these recent efforts, is also substantial proof that this problem is now in the foreground.
In Poland, pressure from anglers and from the existing organized commercial fisheries in inland waters creates considerable controversy between anglers and professional fishermen. Solutions are being sought in legal limitation of fishing both for sport and market depending on the location (access for city population) and the character of water bodies.
Even in Finland, fishing pressure is evident near large population centres. Fifty percent of the whole population of Finland live in the south and south-west coastal region, which comprises 15 percent of the total area of the country. With limited leisure time, mobility is rather restricted. The demand for sport fishing waters is greatest in southern Finland and especially in the vicinity of the biggest cities. Industry also centres around this area. It has been estimated that 10–15 percent of the Finnish lake area is more or less polluted and the shorelines near larger population centres are generally polluted. Due to changes in the quality of the water the annual catch per sport fishermen has decreased in many areas; fishing trips have become longer, the composition of the catch has changed (population of valuable sport fishing fish species has decreased and that of unwanted, worthless species has increased), flavour defects have been noted in fish caught from the polluted waters, etc.
Increasing population and migration to already large cities and urban centres in Europe not only increases the pressure on limited stocks but also implies a disastrous increase in water pollution. The 20-odd countries contacted for this study were unanimous in classifying water pollution as the most serious and expensive problem facing inland fisheries in Europe today.
In less industrialized areas like the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Norway, water pollution is relatively light, but nevertheless remains a problem. There, enrichment of waters by land drainage, high fertilizer concentrations and pollution emanating from silage pits, poultry and/or pig farms does occur in fertile agricultural areas. This fact was seriously brought home at the FAO/EIFAC Symposium on the Nature and Extent of Water Pollution Problems Affecting Inland Fisheries in Europe (Jablonna, Poland, 1970) [Holden and Lloyd, 1972]. In Northern Ireland, where benefit to the land is the major criterion on which decisions about drainage are based, the value of fisheries at risk is taken into account in the cost/benefit analysis which precedes each drainage scheme.
In Europe, some fish species have disappeared altogether. The Seventh Session of EIFAC (Amsterdam, 1972) was told that in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Amsterdam, the maids and servants, before signing a new contract, stated that they did not wish to eat salmon more than three times a week. The fact, as explained by the Head of Fisheries there, is now that very few “maids and also very few Directors, Director-Generals and Ministers in the Netherlands will eat salmon from the Netherlands”.
Eutrophication of lakes resulting from domestic pollution is doing severe and lasting damage in most European countries and is high on the priority list of fishery problems even in Switzerland which is renowned for its clear mountain lakes.
In Spain, industrial development and the torrential character of the rivers have necessitated the construction of numerous barrages blocking the ascent of migratory species but at the same time enlarging by as much as 500 000 ha the water surface available for fish.
In Holland and the Federal Republic of Germany, water shortage creates very serious conditions. In Holland, salinity increases at times to dangerous levels and the minimum water flow of the Rhine, which occurs too often, increases the effects of pollutants.
Inland waters are not alone in being affected by pollution and the seashore of most of Europe is also polluted. This was strongly evidenced at the FAO Technical Conference on Marine Pollution and its Effects on Living Resources and Fishing, Rome, December 1970 (Ruivo, 1972).
The effect of changes in the quality of the water on fishing in a study area in Finland was shown as mainly detrimental. The main influencing factor is the sewage from the city of Helsinki. In 1970 the annual catch per leisure time fisherman was only 35 percent of what it was 20 years ago. The fishing grounds have changed. In 1950 leisure time fishing was practiced mainly in the inner bays, while nowadays the grounds are shifting or have partly shifted to purer areas further from the city necessitating longer journeys. The change in fishing grounds is also reflected in the composition of the catch and the percentage of Baltic herring, cod and flounder in leisure time fishing catches has become significant. On the basis of the study, it has been estimated that changes in the quality of the water and surroundings have been an obstacle to leisure time fishing.
Population, fishing and pollution pressures call for radical action and strong management measures. But the tools available are not the best. One serious drawback is the difficulty of obtaining rapid information on existing stock levels and on stock changes. The problem facing all fishery administrators is one of stock assessment. It is obviously very difficult to apply rational conservation measures without knowing the size and composition of the fish population which is to be conserved. A second major and related problem, which depends upon satisfactory information being obtained on present stock levels is in stock improvement. Both these problems call for research. In the United Kingdom, the laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are actively engaged in research in the field of migratory fish counters (The Natural Environment Research Council, 1972). In France, Poland, the Federal Republic of Germany and Ireland substantive work is being done on electric fishing as a management measure (Vibert, 1967).
Stocking of reservoirs, lakes and rivers is necessary and of course very popular. But the operation of hatcheries is costly and, in fact, Denmark, one of the few countries without fishing licences, is seriously considering its imposition partly to defray the expenses of stocking lakes and rivers. A related problem in that country is that of fish diseases. The Communicable Fish Disease Control Act requires guaranteed non-contaminated fish for stocking rivers heavily exploited by trout farms.
