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Work to repopulate Lake Ohrid along its Albanian shoreline is
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The fight to save a Balkan trout
The ‘King of Lake Ohrid’, which criss
crosses between Albania and North
Macedonia, needs a little help to survive Albania and Northern Macedonia, which both border Lake Ohrid, have signed agreements to ensure the trout’s survival.
LONG the picturesque therepassportnoranidentitycardto shores of Lake Ohrid, crossborders,isknownasthe King things havetaken on a ofLakeOhrid,oneoftheoldestinthe franticpace atthe Lin world."
Hatchery in Albania’s
Pogradec,asa team ofspecialists MISTAKESMAYBEFATAL
racestorelease the finalbatch of Tomaintainthepopulation,Albanian newlyspawnedtroutthisseason.
A
publicandprivateorganisationshave Thehatcheryspecialisesinbreed- increasedoperationsatfisheriesto ingthe“OhridTrout"—anindigenous produce 1.7millionhatchlingsthis speciesinthe ancientlakethathas yearalone."Youhavetotakecareof struggled foryears to maintain a everything.Youhavetorespectsched- healthy population amid habitat ulesanddates.Anymistakecouldbe destruction,overfishingandrampant fatalandcouldleadtothedeathofthe smallfish,"saidKopiBici,whoworks
pollution.
AlbaniaandNorthernMacedonia, atthehatchery, whichbothborderLakeOhrid,have
signed agreements to ensure the alongitsAlbanianshorelineisayear- trout’ssurvival,asa majoruptickin round affair. From Dec 1 to early tourism inthearea hasseen large March,fishing isprohibited inLake amountsofdevelopmentalong the Ohridtopreventthedisruptionofthe k banks.
Known as Koran inAlbaniaand
TheworktorepopulateLakeOhrid
trout'sbreedingcycle.
During this period, a group of Ohridska pastrmka in North Mac- around60speciallytrainedfishermen O edonia,theOhridTrouthaslongbeen areauthorisedtocastnetstohelphar- a staple in the lake'scrystal-clear vesttheeggsofthefemalesandthe jr-.
waters."Itdoesn'tmatterwhatAlba- spermofthemales."Mixedwithfresh niansorMacedonianscallit,"said water,thisfertilisestheeggs,”said „ fishermanArtanMale,adding:"They MartinJace,whooverseesAlbania’s ?**"
allagree:thisfish,whichneedsnei- Fishermen’sAssociation.
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HB3E3 'zzTzzuxzzrTxnzzzr.
Thefertilisedeggsarethenallowed toincubate,followedbythehatching ofthelarvaethatarethencarefully raisedtothefrystage,whichlivefor sixmonthsin thefreshwaterofthe breedingcentre’spondsbeforebeing releasedbackintothelake.
The cycle from egg to a newly spawnedtroutisa delicatejourney witheverystepoftheprocesscarefully monitored, including oxygenlevels, foodintakeandwatertemperature.
Butthereisstillariskofdeathtothe spawns.
Thisyear,to produce 1.7million spawns, farmers and fishermen recovered200kilogrammesofeggs toproducejust3,000kgofadultfish.
meaningthereislittleoxygenforthe hatchlings.
"It'saraceagainst time,thefish havetobereleasedveryquickly.Any delaywouldbefatal.Ifthewaterheats upandtheylackoxygen,theydie,"said Jace,addingthatthecoolwatersdur
ingOctoberandNovemberwereopti
maltoreleasethespawn.
But any effort to preserve the trout’spopulationwilllikelybefutile if the underlying issues threaten- . ingthefishandthelake’sother145 endemicspeciesarenotaddressed."If wedon’twanttolosetheOhridtrout forever,weneedtojoinforces,”said BlerinaTurshina,achefatarestaurant inTushemishtontheAlbaniansideof thelake.
Thetroutremainsaculinarydeli
cacyintheareaandhasattractedtour
istsfromacrosssoutheasternEurope whoare keen tosample the tasty, red-spottedfish,whichhaslongbeen
rumouredtohavebeenafavouriteof Ohridtroutfingerlingsreadyforrelease.
thelateQueenElizabethII.
"Grilled or baked, with onions, spicesandnutsorwithawhitelemon sauce,(thetrout)isthekingofdishes,"
saidTurshina.
OURBABIES
Tobringtheyoungfishbackintothe lake, employees from thehatchery braveOhrid’schoppywatersandoften heavyshowerstoreleasethespawns.
- "Theseareourbabiesandtheyneed tobeingoodphysiologicalcondition towithstandtheirnew.lifeinthelake,”
said Jovan Bale, as hescooped up youngfishatthehatchery’spondthat arelaterplacedinplasticcontainers
Andinaregionwherenationalism
filled with water.
isoftenatalowboil,fightsoverthe Thefisharethentransportedtothe
fish’strueoriginshavebeenknownto edgeofthelake,hoistedontoaboat
beatopicofconversation—something andreleasedintoitsdeeperwaters.
Turshinaandothersarequicktolaugh Timeisoftheessenceduringthetrip
off."Itdoesn'tmatter,"saidTurshina,
—thecontainersthatcarrythenew
adding:"It’stheOhridtrout". AFP spawnsarestuffedwiththeyoungfish,
