PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki Karel Vlasák Member of the Regional Council for Environment and Agriculture

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki South Bohemia region is above all an area of ponds, which, together with various canals, create a unique atmosfere. The tradition of building ponds goes as far back as to the 13th century and it culminated in the 16th century when famous pond builders like Jakub Krčín of Jelčany and Josef Štěpánek of Netolice were working here. The original number of ponds was much bigger but many of them were destroyed during the Thirty Years War and through the widening of agricultural areas – less than a quarter has been preserved until now. Nevertheless the South Bohemia has more than 7.5 thousand ponds with a total area of over 30,000 hectares. They cover almost 3% of the South Bohemia Region. Most ponds are situated in the Třeboň basin. The largest one is Rožmberk near Třeboň, which is also the largest pond in the Czech Republic. It stretches over 489 hectares. The second largest pond Bezdrev near Hluboká nad Vltavou, covering 394 hectares, is situated in the České Budějovice basin.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki Rožmberk basin near Třeboň – the largest pond in the Czech Republic.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki Rožmberk basin near Třeboň – draught of fish.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki Other important ponds in our region include Dehtář (246 ha), Blatec (97 ha) and Volešek (137 ha), Horusický (416 ha), Dvořiště (337 ha) in the České Budějovice and Hluboká pond system, Velký Tisý (317 ha) and Staňkovský (241 ha) in the Třeboň system and Labuť (100 ha), Velká Kuš (45 ha) and Metelský (52 ha) in the Lnáře and Blatná system. Other noted ponds are Kancléřský (176 ha), Krvavý (127 ha) and Velký Ratmířovský (78 ha) in the Jindřichův Hradec area and Žárský (120 ha) and Byňovský ponds (78 ha) in the Stropnice River basin.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki Natural lakes are, in fact, found only in the Šumava Mountains. The only glacier lake situated in the South Bohemia region is the Plešné Lake (7.48 ha) in the Šumava mountains, the rest of the glacier lakes are situated in the Plzeň Region, or in neighbouring Germany. Lakes also include smaller bog lakes (e.g. bog lakes in the Chalupská slať (peaty moor) near Borová Lada).

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki And because we have ponds, there is something important in them. Live fish – carp in particular, are the most important product of Czech aquaculture, because carp is a traditional Czech dish. The role of fisheries in the Czech national economy is rather marginal. However, due to the long history, tradition, and environmental aspects, Czech fisheries have a reputable and stable position in the country and in Europe. However, fish is an interesting kind of food for fish-eating predators.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki The role of fisheries in the Czech national economy is rather marginal. The Czech Carp is the registered trademark of the Fishery Association of Czech Republic.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki SOLUTION OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE EUROPEAN OTTER AND GREAT CORMORANT IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki SOLUTION OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE EUROPEAN OTTER AND GREAT CORMORANT IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki SOLUTION OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE EUROPEAN OTTER AND GREAT CORMORANT IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Compensation caused by the European otter and great cormorant to fish bred for economic purposes in fishponds is settled by laws of the Czech Republic. Compensation for damage to hatcheries, fish nursery grounds and fish farms is provided only if these were fenced off and equipped with grates at any water inflow and outflow preventing the entry of otters. However, damage cannot be compensated caused to fisheries on water courses because fish living freely in water courses are “nobody’s possession” under the law and the right of ownership cannot be applied to them.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE EUROPEAN OTTER AND GREAT CORMORANT: the level of damage is always established by a professional or expert report the expert drawing up the report uses data provided by the applicant as well as his personal experience acquired in field investigation and from bases available in GIS software (only for damage caused by the European otter) it is possible to claim damage for a maximum of the past six months damage can be compensated caused by the great cormorant to fish whose weight does not exceed the limit consumed by the great cormorant of 0.7 kg (the size of the fish in disputed cases can be determined by continuous control of fish stock) losses can be compensated caused by the great cormorant only arising from the direct consumption of fish, secondary damage as a result of injury by cormorants and stress to fish can be claimed only in the event that the applicant produces the required documents and quantified amount of dead or injured fish (injured fish can be documented during a fishpond haul, however the condition of claiming compensation must be claimed to 6 months of its occurrence) the applicant must keep a record of the number of cormorants

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE WHEN REPORTING THE OCCURRENCE OF DAMAGE? Step 1 The injured party must report the damage within 48 hours as of ascertaining it to the local relevant nature conservation authority depending where the damage occurred. Once the damage report is received the employee of the locally relevant nature conservation authority will conduct a local investigation of the site where the damage occurred and will draw up a protocol and obtain evidence.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE WHEN REPORTING THE OCCURRENCE OF DAMAGE? Step 2 Because the level of damage to fishponds is always established by a professional or expert report, one of the experts for drawing up the reports needs to be contacted. Before submitting the application to the regional authority, the expert drawing up the report must conduct two controls of the location within at least 30 days.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE WHEN REPORTING THE OCCURRENCE OF DAMAGE? Step 3 The injured party will submit an application with the accompanying documents to the regional authority relevant to the site where the damage occurred and will always send a copy of the application to the expert drawing up the report.

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki The damage compensation application form contains: name, surname, national identification number and permanent residence of the applicant, if a natural person (private individual) name, seat and identification number of the applicant, if a legal entity (corporate body) description of the cause of damage and extent of damage identification of the animal species that caused the damage according to the applicant’s knowledge a summary of fishponds where damage occurred fishery management data description of the measures taken by the applicant to prevent damage way of providing damage compensation record of the number of cormorants (during the damage caused by the cormorant)

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki The applicant attaches the following to the application form: document or other evidence of the right of ownership to the fish document on the right of use to a fishpond, hatchery and fish nursery grounds professional or expert report on the damage to the fish and its extent protocol and further evidence from the local investigation carried out by the local relevant nature conservation authority

PONDS AND LAKES IN SOUTH BOHEMIA – GENERAL OVERVIEW AND THE WAY OF DAMAGE COMPENSATION CAUSED BY FISH-EATING PREDATORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Kick-off seminar of Interreg IVC project LakeAdmin Finnish Environment Institute Helsinki METHOD OF KEEPING RECORDS OF THE NUMBER OF CORMORANTS the number of cormorants is recorded for each fishpond separately, stating the place, time and name of the observer (the control time is an essential condition) the number of cormorants must be monitored as frequently as possible, there must not be more than a 4-day gap between each control, otherwise the presence of cormorants cannot be considered to be continuous if there happens to be an unusually large number of cormorants (this depends on the specific location, about twice the average number) this fact must be reported to the relevant authority and the numbers must be controlled every day if there happens to be more than 50 cormorants, the fishpond must be controlled at least every other day, and every day if there are more than 100 cormorants the controls are required at the peak of the feeding activity of cormorants in the morning, the best time is during the 2 to 5 hours after sunrise only fishing cormorants are included (birds in flight, at night resting grounds and at daily resting grounds, unless they fish directly from such a location, cannot be included)

Thank you for your attention