Première opération de rempoissonnement au moyen de barbeaux et de chevaines produits en pisciculture expérimentale : note technique

A first operation of restocking belgian rivers with hatchery reared fry and fingerlings of the barbel, Barbus barbus (L.) and the chub, Leuciscus cephalus (L.).

On October 3, 1983, about 300 barbels and 2800 chubs reared at the Tihange fish culture station (supplied with heated water from a power plant) were used for a first trial of restocking two localities in the river Ourthe (from where the eggs and milt were collected for artificial reproduction) and three localities in the river Méhaiqne (tributaries of the river Meuse). The average size of the fish released into the wild was 18,7 cm (males : 16.1 cm; female:21.3 cm) for the 14 months old barbels and 5.0 cm for the 4 months old chubs.

This experiment has two main aims :

1) to investigate the growth and survival of individually tagged barbels produced in the hatchery under intensive condition and artificial feeding, and

2) to undertake a restauration of the barbel and chub populations in the river Méhaigne in which pollution problems have resulted in the virtual extinction of the barbel and the strong decrease of the chub abundance.

In a next future, we plan to develop a mass production of barbel and chub fry and fingerlings and a restauration programme of these species in the river Meuse basin.