Visbestandopnames in Vlaanderen in het kader van het Referentiemeetnet -Bemonsteringsresultaten 2020

This report presents the sampling results of fishing campaigns conducted on streams and rivers in 2020. We sampled 85 sites: at one site we caught no fish. At the remaining sites, species diversity ranged between 1 and 16 species.
In total, we found 42 fish and lamprey species. The most widespread species was roach, followed by eel. This is followed by perch, gudgeon and three-spined stickleback. As for non-native species, only stone moroko is in the top 10 species caught. We caught the European protected Euopean bitterling at 21 % , brook lamprey at 12 % and spined loach at 11 % of the monitoring sites.
We also discuss the EQR (Ecological Quality Ratio) values of the sampled waters, they are a measure of the ecological status of a water body. Only 7.5 % of sampled sites on streams and rivers are in the 'good status' required by the Water Framework Directive. Most sites - 57.5 % - are in 'moderate status', 29 % have 'insufficient quality' and 6 % are rated 'poor quality'.