Dresden (dpa / sn) – The State Fishing Association of Saxony sees the existence of fish farming in the Free State threatened by official requirements. Managing Director Andreas Stummer spoke on Friday of “nonsensical nature conservation measures”. “Apparently, the pond keepers are only supposed to breed newts. The Saxon conservationists checkmate themselves.”
According to Stummer, the nature conservation authorities are enacting more and more restrictions that significantly limit the previous management practice and thus minimize the yields. The pond farmers could only decide for themselves which fish species they would like to breed on 44 percent of the areas. So far, this has been the case for 90 percent of the areas. “The patronage of the companies is now culminating in a current funding program from the Ministry of the Environment,” said Stummer. Actually, the so-called TWN program (pond management and nature conservation) is supposed to support the pond farmers in mastering the requirements of nature conservation also economically. However, the current restrictions would result in a reduction in yield of 600 to 1000 euros per hectare in the pond farms. According to Stummer, the farms manage an average of 200 to 250 hectares of pond area. At the same time, the managing director criticized the short application period for the funding program of just four weeks. Ironically, at the busiest time of the year, the pond owners would now be burdened with it. According to Stummer, the companies were presented with the program at the beginning of December, and they now have to deliver by December 31st. Applications submitted later will not be considered. This is a plan for the next five years.
