Sustainable management of leisure and professional fisheries at the ...

c. Actions taken and restrictions
imposed
With a particular focus on the “civic” fishing right
for the inhabitants of the two boroughs, studies are
currently being conducted in order to determine
what actions must be taken in order to make fishing
on Lake Idro compatible with good management of
the stocks, as required by the Regional Law.
With the help of the Consultative Committee, a
series of actions and restrictions were adopted in
order to ensure this compatibility. The restrictions
envisaged are as follows:
- Banning setting nets in the northern part of
the lake (in the zone belonging to the town of
Bagolino near the mouth of the River Chiese,
which is an important spot for Salmonids fishing),
and only permitting access to line fishing for
leisure purposes;
- Limiting the size of the nets that the holders of a
“civic” right can use, in order to distinguish them
from real professional fishermen who actually pay
costs relating to compulsory insurance and social
security contributions, as well as the costs related
to processing and marketing their catches;
- Limiting the period during which fishing in boats
is allowed;
- Selecting which catch equipment is compatible
with the preservation of fish in their juvenile phase;
- Banning or limiting the catching of
endangered species;
- Banning fishing during spawning periods
and banning the catching of fish which are not
yet mature.
These measures were decided on based solely on
technical criteria, particularly for regulating fishing
periods and the resources granted (the nets’ size
and mesh). These rules stem from knowledge
of the biology of the species of fish in the very
environment where these restrictions are applied.
In particular for the first measure, the specific
environmental features and a special request
from the town of Bagolino made it possible to
define a zone where a ban was implemented on
all “intensive” techniques, such as the use of
nets, with the sole objectives being to reconstitute
stocks and preserve piscicultural resources. Only
leisure fishing is allowed.
Fishing from boats is allowed only outside a zone
around the mouth of the River Chiese at a distance
of at least 30 metres from the shore. Fishing from
boats in authorised sectors begins only on the last
Sunday of March.
The Province of Brescia has also made
administrative and technical commitments for
setting up monitoring of fisheries activities and
the reconstitution of stocks. Restocking of the
lake is carried out both based on purchasing fish
for restocking it and via economic support to local
fish farmers who release fish born in fish farms into
the lake.
(Source: P. CUCCHI)