Fish restocking of Lake Palic began on December 21st, 2021, thus taking the next step in improving the quality of the fish stock of the lake. The lake is stocked with wels catfish (Silurus glanis), with 50 kg juveniles in sectors II, III and IV. There were also plans to introduce other species such as pike-perch (and perch nests), pike and tench. However, only catfish was currently available on the market.
This Eurasian species is naturally distributed in the basins of the North, Baltic, Black, Caspian and Aegean Seas. So, it inhabits all Europe and Asia in the east to the Balkhash lake in Kazakhstan. It inhabits large and medium-sized lowland rivers, backwaters and lakes with richly overgrown vegetation. The catfish is a nocturnal predator, which feeds mostly near the lake bottom. Larvae and young fish are benthic, so they feed on various invertebrates and fish. Adults feed on fish and other aquatic vertebrates. They reach full maturity at 2-3 years of age.
Due to the large population of allochthonous silver carp species, the long-term Fisheries Management Programme defines that perch nests should be set up in this water body and the lake stocked with catfish, perch and other predatory species aiming to improve the predator/prey relationship. Predators will pressurize the allochthonous silver carp population and directly cause the fish fauna of the lake to improve.
Fish stocking will continue in the coming years, as well as fish stock monitoring in terms of the quality and quantity of its composition.
