Stiftsgymnasium and ENVESTA: Joining forces for the fish population in Johnsbach

The "Johnsbach", which gives its name to the well-known district of the municipality of Admont, is being restocked with fish as part of a "homing" project organised by ENVESTA Energie- und Dienstleistungs-GmbH. Pupils from the Stiftsgymnasium grammar school were also actively involved in the endeavour to revive the stream, which has now become almost fishless. On the initiative of ENVESTA, a biology project was launched that enabled a weather-tested group from the science branch of the 6A class to help with the restocking on Thursday 27 March and thus gain an insight into the interactions in the river habitat. A practical example was used to clearly demonstrate that hydropower plants do not have to be at odds with an intact fish habitat. 

Under the guidance of two fishing experts from the Gesäuse-Gstatterboden fishing association, the Danube brown trout, which were just the size of tadpoles and had been reared since January, were divided into several buckets and released into the low-current tributaries of the Johnsbach. A total of almost 11,000 fish were released. The survival rate is expected to be around 2%. The aim of this project is to slowly acclimatise the fish to their habitat and to sensitise them to predators such as otters and herons in good time.