The situation in lake management has improved, but this does not mean that it is the case in all lakes, according to the researchers of the company "Saldūdeņu risinājumi" have been studying the fish resources of Latvian lakes and rivers for several years in order to give recommendations to municipalities on how to better manage their water bodies.
This week Dauguli Little Lake and Rākis lake are under the microscope.
It is morning, and under the guidance of fish ecologist, biologist Matīs Žagars, the team removes fish from special research nets on the shore of the lake in order to sort them by species and size.
"Here, in Dauguli Little Lake, there are quite a lot of small fish, this is by the same analogy as in the forest - that we have deer and there are wolves, wolves regulate the number of deer and at the same time deer regulate the number of wolves; if the wolf has nothing to eat, then there is no wolf. In this case, there are too few wolves, as a rule, this is the result of the fact that people use too much of the predatory fish resources, and this disrupts the balance," Žagars explained.
Next, the fish will be measured and weighed, samples of scales and gills will be taken, and the food base of the fish will also be evaluated in order to find out the ecological state of the lake in general. Then recommendations to the municipality will follow. According to Evija Ozola, senior environmental specialist of the Natural Resources Administration of the Valmiera region municipality, they are essential for the development of fishery exploitation regulations.
"We need this [data] to further understand whether it is necessary to release fish fry [young fish]; if so, how many and what kind of fish fry should be released. Basically, these operating rules are like an alphabet for every fish resource manager," said Ozola.
Valmiera county has six public lakes, and the main problem in management – as is the case with Dauguli Little Lake – is access, because even though the lake is under the control of the municipality, the surrounding land is private property.
"There are simply no public access points there. Well, theoretically we can let those fish fry in, but the question is how many of the public will have access to these resources. It's not only in Valmiera county, it's the problem of the whole of Latvia that there are these smaller lakes, for which there are simply no public access points left, there is no access to the lake, and then we as managers and users of fish resources have to fight," explained Ozola.
Biologist Matīss Žagars also emphasizes the issue of access.
"In order for the lake to be public, in my opinion, judging from my experience, there should be at least one public access point... I think the most common item in garden stores are those signs that say "Private property", but that lake is not yours, it belongs to everyone. In Latvia, the legislation is organized in such a way that the municipality manages public waters, so that in principle it is in the hands of the municipality, it is up to negotiations with private owners on which terms they allow access to it," explains Žagars.
But when talking about trends in lake management, Žagars considers that the situation is improving and work and funds are being invested in many municipalities. As a positive example, he cites the management of Alūksnes lake and also what has been done in Burtnieks lake two of Latvia's largest and most beautiful lakes.
"Ten years ago, there were still many such socio-economic conflicts between fishermen and anglers, in general the management of Lake Burtnieks has definitely gone in the right direction. Alūksne was already the flagship of Latvia, which began to work systematically with lake management. Of course, Alūksne Lake itself is very well managed, excellent, Jēkabpils county is also actively working now, Cēsis county woke up when there was a reform of local governments a couple of years ago – it fell asleep with three lakes and woke up with sixty, and to their credit have also started working with a systematic approach to lake management," Žagars mentions as positive examples.
If there are many public lakes under the control of the municipality, then Žagars suggests that it would be worthwhile to involve the local community as well.
"With small lakes, you have to look at how much resources the municipalities have. We usually recommend prioritizing, understanding which [lakes] we can [address] and which we can't, maybe they can be given over to management, for example, to democratically established associations of local people, which then have their own interest in protecting the lake. It's getting better, that's what I like. We've been working like this for ten years, and I'm pleased to say that people's thinking has changed, but that doesn't change the fact that almost all lakes in Latvia could be improved," says Žagars.
As a positive trend, Žagars also emphasizes that, when thinking about better management of lakes, lake owners these days trust scientific research more – and researchers will not lack work in Latvian lakes this summer.
