The Comeback Fish ?

1 October 2020

The most beautiful photos of the series “Lachs-Comeback” by photographer Michel Roggo are exhibited in the town hall of Basel. The ground floor has been converted into an ‘aquarium’ for this purpose.

The photographs show the Rhine, which could again be a reality in Basel. The exhibition has been created in cooperation with WWF Switzerland and the city of Basel. (More information about the Swiss Salmon project: www.lachscomeback.ch).

One hundred years ago, the Rhine was the most important salmon river in Europe. Salmon fishing has always been important to Basel. However, salmon have disappeared from the Rhine since the 1950s.

Power stations, locks and other installations prevent salmon from returning from Greenland to their original spawning grounds in Switzerland, the Black Forest or Alsace. Poor water quality and the destruction of the habitat have also contributed to the Rhine without Salmon.

The Conference of Rhine Ministers 2020 (Rheinministerkonferenz 2020) took place in Amsterdam on 13 February 2020. Barriers in the Rhine still make resettlement difficult, although (binding) agreements have been made long ago.

Almost all power plants and locks in Switzerland have fish ladders Only in EU-countries, e.g. France; hardly anything has happened. The conference has now set “Rhine 2040” as its objective.

The exhibition in the Town Hall is open from Monday to Saturday. (Source and further information: https://bgbasel.ch).