Despite the alarming situation caused by water pollution, European countries are generally optimistic for the future of sport fisheries. An example of this attitude in the Netherlands is the planned improvement of the old-fashioned fish passes in River Meuse by replacing them with modern fish locks. If water quality were not to improve, it would be a mere waste of money. There is also hope that the modern fish passes in the delta works and in the three recently constructed barrages in the River Rhine will serve their purpose successfully, which will mean giving passage to important fish species, such as salmon.
To increase its water area and reduce mounting fishing pressure, Italy is building small lakes and stocking them regularly. Likewise, the Federal Republic of Germany is building new fish ponds and restoring old ones.
The importance of the sport fishery problems and need for improved management have resulted in the Netherlands in the formation of a Federation of anglers' clubs. The responsibility for the management of scaly fish is shifting to sport fishing organizations. It also creates a situation in which anglers can fish many different waters without being faced with the necessity of becoming members of several clubs and associations.
Similar action is being contemplated in Switzerland but there the problem, as in the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria, is further complicated because of the federal structure of the country. However, discussions with a view to arriving at a national fishery association aimed at improved management practices are promising. In that country, it is felt that a positive step in water pollution control will be the opening of purifying stations in the near future and the application of a new law on fisheries tailored to modern needs.
In an effort to smooth over the controversy between sport and commercial fishermen, it is felt that dissemination of objective information on fishery resources and management will influence public opinion in the right direction. It is also felt that commercial fishing methods should be generally understood as management measures in sport fishing waters.
In less industrialized countries, it is more and more realized that the wealth of sport fishing resources should be better protected particularly since they presently have small commercial value and are, therefore, vulnerable to other conflicting interests.
With respect to water pollution control, the establishment of water quality criteria for European freshwater fish is given the highest priority on the programme of EIFAC (EIFAC Working Party on Water Quality Criteria, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972). In fact, major studies have been completed on suspended solids, pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, and monohydric phenols. Work is continuing on chlorine, zinc, mercury and others. The Commission at various times reasserted its feeling that water quality criteria for freshwater fish are a first, basic and absolutely necessary step in the management of sport and inland fisheries. Once the criteria for various species of fish and various pollutants are in the hands of the administrators, only then is it possible for them to evaluate the economic and social cost of the water quality they can or must afford in various areas in their country and do so with adequate legislation. Similar criteria are felt necessary for marine fish species and interested international bodies are moving in the same direction as EIFAC in that regard.
Intense research in stock assessment, particularly on those techniques necessary for the rapid assessment of fish population is also being coordinated by EIFAC. An International Symposium on Methodology for the Survey, Monitoring and Appraisal of Fishery Resources in Lakes and Large Rivers is being organized in conjunction with the Eighth Session of EIFAC (Scotland, 1974).
The cautious optimism of EIFAC members is due to their recent awakening to the value of the sport fishing assets which, belatedly, they are attempting to protect and develop for full realization of their potential. The trend is definitely positive and involves an increasing participation of the persons or groups directly concerned.
Some European countries have now recognized the need to evaluate their sport fishing resources not in isolation but in the framework of the total planning of the use of water, recreation in general and the social needs of their population. It is clear that we must determine all of the costs involved in transforming resources into outputs, even social costs. Only when we operate in this fashion will we, as a society, be able to know the exact price of a commodity. As in the case of stock assessment, the techniques need to be developed to assist in this important task. This calls for international coordination such as we find here.
FAO and EIFAC are playing an increasing role in assisting governments in the effective management and conservation of their natural resources and those of the oceans. A sound balance between environmental requirements, the limited availability of resources, the need for economic growth and social amenities need to be established. Data collection and monitoring techniques will play an increasing role in coping with accelerated changes in resource use. It will be essential to ensure that these data are fully utilized both to assist governments in natural resource planning and management and also to forecast and prevent possible detrimental effects of accelerated development on natural resources and the environment.
