The last campaign of selective fishing of invasive fish species in Lake Palić Sector IV carried out as part of the “Biodiversity and Water Protection Lake Palić and Lake Ludas – Ecolacus” project, has officially ended. On this occasion, PE Palic Ludas and the Ecolacus project PR team organized a press conference.

According to Marta Dobo, director of PE Palic-Ludas, more than 200 tons of fish have been caught so far within the project, considering that the number of babushkas caught has noticeably decreased this year, which means that the quality of the water in the lake is improving. PE Palic – Ludas will continue trying this kind of fishing in the future, and there is a plan to stock the lake. We have also completed fish monitoring this year, which means that we will have a clear overview of the situation of our fish stocks in Lake Palic and Ludas,” emphasized Dobo.

The German Development Bank (KfW) allocated approximately 150,000 euros for fishing within the Ecolacus project. To carry out fishing as successfully as possible, the public company Palic-Ludas got one boat, designed according to the conditions of Lake Palic, as well as eight special fishing nets. The money was for the payment of the work of German experts in the initial period and the multi-year activities of domestic experts, too.

This fall, over 13 and a half tons of fish, mainly babushkas and somewhat less brown bullhead and sunfish, was taken out from the lake, said Tamas Vinko, the expert associate of the Public Company Palic-Ludas. He pointed out that there was no significant fish kill this year, which is a good sign, but larger quantities of native fish species, such as perch and carp, are also observed. “We analyze the fish before each catch, i.e. the fish meat, at the Subotica Veterinary Institute. So far, it has not happened that any substance was above the limit values or that there was a virus or some disease harmful to human beings in that meat, and the same was this time,” pointed out Vinko.

The cooperation with the Palic ZOO continued this year, too. The catch of babushka will end up as food for some of the ZOO residents, such as the brown bear, otter, raccoon and similar animals. The lake fish will be exceptionally significant to the part of the winter refuge for birds, where more than 20 stork birds not sufficiently recovered to start the long migratory journey to North Africa will spend the winter this year. “We will provide food for all types of pond and lake birds in the ZOO until the New Year holiday and maybe later. This way, we supply them with more than 50 kilograms of additional fish per day. What we do not manage to use as fresh fish, we store in our two cold storage rooms, which we will surely use later this year,” said Sonja Mandić, director of the ZOO.

Marko Stojčić, expert consultant and deputy Ecolacus project manager, addressed the gathered journalists at the end of the conference. He pointed out that, according to the latest measurements and as the result of the work in the last four years, the quality of the lake’s water and the condition of the living world have improved significantly. In addition to selective fishing and biomanipulation, the Ecolacus project included several other investments, such as the construction of an additional unit for phosphorus removal at the Subotica wastewater treatment plant, the expansion of the sewage network in Palic and the construction of a protective buffer zone of vegetation around Palic Sector IV and Ludas lake, which prevents the influence of wind and surface runoff and input of nutrients into the lake. “All these investments aim to protect the lakes, i.e. to preserve biodiversity and water quality of both lakes. Since we are almost at the end of the project, which will last until the end of this year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who participated”, concluded Stojčić.