© FSP
Whitefish was named fish of the year 2022. This fish, vital for professional fishermen, is an “ambassador of biodiversity”, but it is threatened, writes the Swiss Fishing Federation (FSP) on Sunday.
Switzerland has 24 species of whitefish. Many of them are endemic and are only found in our country, underlines the FSP. It is known by the names of féra in Lake Geneva, palée or bondelle in Lake Neuchâtel, said Maxime Prevedello, member of the FSP, on the airwaves of the RTS. It is the first fish for professional fishermen in terms of marketing, he said.
Present in all the large lakes, these fish are “true champions of adaptation”: depending on the conditions, they are able to change habitat, food, and modify the location and period of their reproduction.
These silver salmonids are very fearful, like cold water, live in schools in the depths of lakes – and are difficult to photograph and film. Indeed, nothing escapes their large eyes and their remarkable lateral lines which perceive even the smallest movements in the water.
Degradation of living conditions
However, this fish is a victim of the deterioration of its living conditions. A third of the species have already disappeared in Switzerland. In 2019, some 486 tonnes of whitefish were fished in Swiss waters, against 1,500 in the 90s. Figures which “should make us think”, warns the central president of the FSP, Roberto Zanetti, quoted in a press release.
Oxygen in particular has become too scarce in deep areas and on spawning grounds due to the excessive input of fertilizer and slurry into many lakes over the past century.
In the lakes of the Lucerne and Aargau Plateau for example, populations have only been maintained until today thanks to artificial breeding. Natural reproduction is massively reduced in the long term. The FSP also blames chemical pollution and “artificialized shores”.