May 21st
World Fish Migration Day
World Fish Migration Day is a one-day global celebration to raise awareness of the importance of free-flowing rivers and migratory fish. This event is sponsored by the World Fish Migration Foundation and hundreds of thousands of people around the world participate.
In the context of the Czech Republic, two fish species are most commonly discussed in relation to the migratory permeability of our rivers: eel and salmon. Salmon migrates from rivers and streams to the sea, where it spends most of its life. After reaching sexual maturity, it returns upstream to the rivers to spawn and complete its life cycle. On the other hand, eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea, where their journey to freshwater begins. They spend most of their lives in freshwater and then embark on a journey back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Both species encounter various migration barriers along the way, mainly in the form of dam reservoirs with electric turbines, which can either stop or completely destroy the migrating population. Everyone is welcome to join this celebration and organize their own event. This time, we celebrate our love for fish and rivers - love flows.
