Development and use of surface waters, and the fate of the related fisheries in the Berlin area of Germany

• Published in: Fisheries Management and Ecology
• Main Authors: Grosch, U., Rennert, B., Hilge, V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2000
• Subjects: Brama; Anguilla anguilla; European eel
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2400.2000.00195.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2400.2000.00195.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2400.2000.00195.x

Berlin, Germany, has a population of some 3.5 million inhabitants and covers an area of 889 km 2 , of which 58 km 2 (6.4%) consist of various sizes of rivers and lakes. The landscape is characterized by glacial deposits, slow‐flowing lowland rivers and shallow lakes with a maximum depth of 16 m. There are some 60 lakes which are < 1 ha and more than 500 natural pond‐like waters. The primary fishing waters are the Rivers Spree, Dahme and Havel, the latter being a lacustrine body of water. Today there are 13 full‐time and 17 part‐time fishery enterprises, and 40 000–50 000 recreational fishermen. The main fish species of commercial interest are European eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), pike perch, Stizostedion lucioperca (L.), perch, Perca fluviatilis L., pike, Esox lucius L., and tench, Tinca tinca (L.). In recent years, the total catch from the commercial fishery has consisted of ≈ 100 t of high valued fish and another 300 t of less‐valued species, such as bream, Abramis brama (L.), roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), and silver bream, Blicca bjoerkna (L.) Over the past 10 years, human activities, including the use of water for industrial purposes, navigation on waterways and recreation, have changed the water bodies and their fish stocks, and reduced the economic value of the fishery. Discharges by the chemical industry located in the city caused severe problems in the 1980s, when the contamination of fish by dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, HCH, lindane and polychlorinated biphenyls led to a ban on the marketing of the catch until 1993. Heavy eutrophication originating from upstream agriculture and effluents from sewage plants presents another problem. Measures taken for more than 40 years under two different political systems are described. These were implemented to control the stocks of coarse fish until better water quality was achieved. The measures also helped to sustain the fishery enterprises.