After an initial rejection, EFTTA is happy to announce that the ProtectFish project has been selected to receive funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the call “Nature protection: better methods and knowledge to improve the conservation status of EU-protected species and habitats”.
At the end of August, leading EU biologists met at the University in Koblenz to officially launch the “ProtectFish” research project. EFTTA's lobby partners Jan Kappel and Alienor were also present. Alienor is a designated 'ProtectFish' partner and media contact for further information. Jan Kappel is member of the External Advisory Board, which includes experts on cormorants and river fish, as well as EU and FAO representatives, and other stakeholders like environmental and angling organizations.
ProtectFish: protecting threatened river fish against predation
The objective of the ProtectFish project is to examine the equilibrium of ecosystems and the conflicts between EU protected river fish species and the Great Cormorant. The Danish Technical University (DTU) is in charge of coordinating this four-year collaboration between partners from eight EU countries.
Research Consortium
The Consortium, which will be responsible for conducting the research, will consist of EU universities, research institutes, and SMEs. The ProtectFish partners will get advice from an External Advisory Board, which includes experts on cormorants and river fish, as well as EU and FAO representatives, and other stakeholders like environmental and angling organizations. For the first meeting they all got together at the University in Koblenz to plan and kick off their activities for the next few months.
Over the next 4 years, the project is expected to provide ambitious data collection work, knowledge tools, and practical management solutions. Through this research, Protect Fish will assist in meeting the objectives the EU Biodiversity Strategy targets and the 'good ecological status' targets for rivers as mandated by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in 2000.
Freshwater fish threatened with extinction
The project was initiated because freshwater fish are under ever increasing pressure with one in three threatened with extinction. Therefore, a team of scientists decided to establish the ProtectFish project and apply for funding to find answers to why and what can be done about it. There are a number of well-known factors having a negative impact on fish like pollution, climate change, dams and hydropower. More recently it has become evident that the increase in fish predators like the cormorant can have a huge impact on certain fish species as well.
