Belgium/ Vegetated banks to help fish in Walloon Brabant
It is not easy to be a fish in the province of Walloon Brabant. The rivers often flow in urban areas. Their banks are then enclosed between walls... Not enough to encourage the development of aquatic fauna... How to bring back life in these sections of watercourse? By installing vegetated banks, similar to green roofs or urban vegetable gardens. Today, six municipalities have been equipped. Including Grez-Doiceau.
It looks like a sausage. A long coil of 12 meters long, made of a substrate close to the coal, on which aquatic plants bloom. The whole is fixed at the level of the water. Jean-Luc Mottin, from the fishermen's federation, explains the usefulness of these structures: " First, they are fish caches. Our hope is that they will also spawn there. In this case, the project is 100% successful.
The vegetated berm is made of xylite fibers adapted to immersion. The root system of the plants provides habitat for both fish and insects. In fact, all river fauna benefits, bringing walled rivers back to life. Gilles Julien, from the Walloon Fishing House, has been installing them for 5 years: here in Grez-Doiceau, we clearly see very little life in the Train. This type of structure will create life along the banks. It has already been observed in other sub-basins.
Small budget, big effect
Six municipalities in Walloon Brabant have just joined the many sites already equipped in Wallonia: Grez-Doiceau, Ottignies, Jodoigne, Beauvechain, Court-Saint-Etienne and Wavre. They have each paid 1000 euros. An additional 10,000 euros will be used to finance the project, which will be paid for by the Walloon region and the fishermen's federations concerned.
These efficient installations are also very resilient. They resisted perfectly to the floods of last summer.
Source: www.rtbf.be
