Current News
Current News and Notifications
In this section you will find information on the newest research projects at our institute, new co-operations with other institutions and various other important news
Just launched:
Brand new English-language diary for the KoMoDo-Project. Just use the link below and you'll be right there, to find exciting information (and viusual impressions) on the day-to-day workings of this important research project.
Come and have a look!
The Project OderAngeln is launching its next round of activities!
We need you!!!
Please visit our "OderAngeln" webpage for further information
The European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) is Fish of the Year 2025
In Germany, a ‘Fish of the Year’ is chosen each year to raise awareness of endangered fish species and their habitats. In a public online vote, the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) was chosen for 2025.
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a wanderer between two worlds. Sexually mature, so-called ‘Blankaale’ (naked eels) migrate from the inland and coastal waters of Europe and cross the Atlantic to reach their spawning grounds. These are located between the West Indies and Bermuda in an area of the sea known as the Sargassosee (Sargasso Sea). The parent eels die there after mating and spawning. After hatching, the eel larvae are carried by the Gulf Stream to the European continental shelf. During their further migration towards the coast, the eel larvae transform into transparent juvenile eels, which are on average 7 cm long and weigh 0.33 g. Some of these fish, now known as ‘Glasaale’ (glass eels), remain in the coastal area, while others migrate upstream the estuaries and colonise rivers and lakes. There they spend their main growth phase as so-called ‘Gelbaale’ (yellow eels) or ‘Fressaale’ (feeding eels; photo left) until they reach sexual maturity.
While many other native fish species reach sexual maturity after four to five years, eels in our inland waters take 10–20 years to do so. Another peculiarity of this fish species is that the males, with a maximum body length of 50 cm and a weight of 200 g each, remain significantly smaller than the females, which can grow to over a metre in length and weigh several kilograms. Once the eels have built up sufficient fat reserves, their skin takes on a silvery colour and their eyes and pectoral fins grow larger – they have transformed into silver eels (photo right) and are ready to begin their return journey to the Sargasso Sea.
For more than three decades, eel stocks have been in sharp decline throughout Europe. The current quantity of glass eels along the Atlantic coast of Western Europe is estimated to be only about one to ten per cent of the level in the comparable period of 1960 to 1979. The complex life cycle of the eel makes it particularly sensitive to changes in its environment. There are many possible causes for the decline in the eel population, and their significance is often insufficiently understood. These causes range from oceanic factors to numerous negative influences in our inland waters, such as channelisation, diseases, and pollution, to fishing by anglers and the often fatal passage of power plant turbines. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is, therefore, critical of the population trend and recommends a precautionary halt to all human impacts on the population, as well as the restoration of the quality and connectivity of eel habitats.
The eel is the only native fish species with its own European Union regulation. This obliges the member states to draw up management plans for all eel catchment areas in order to replenish the stocks in our inland waters and thus increase the number of parent eels for the next eel generation. This should be done primarily by improving the protection of eels in lakes, rivers and on the coasts. In addition, it is currently necessary to stock our river basins with young eels, as only a few glass eels (photo below) currently arrive in the estuaries of our rivers and are unable to continue their journey upstream from there due to the many man-made obstacles such as weirs or reinforced banks.
Our institute has been dealing with eel stock development and measures to support the stock for over 20 years. One focus of our work is also the scientific monitoring of the stocking measures in several federal states. We want to contribute to the stocked eels being vital and healthy and to have optimal growth and development conditions. In this way, we want to ensure that the stocked eels are vital and healthy and have optimal conditions for growth and development. In addition, we collect data on important stock parameters such as natural immigration of young eels, growth, survival rates and the quantity of migrating silver eels. This data is used to model stock development in the Elbe catchment area and, in particular, to estimate the effect of eel stocking measures. Our results show that eel stocks in our inland waters have increased significantly in recent years. Every three years, we report on the status of the implementation of the German Eel Management Plans in accordance with the EU Eel Regulation, including in the Elbe and Oder river basins.
Links to further information: German Eel Management (German language only), the necessity of eel stocking measures, and the actual procedure of eel stocking (German language only).
On the subject:
River Landscape of the Years 2024/25 is the River Stepenitz (Elbe)
there is a new clip on the YouTube channel of the Landesanglerverband Brandenburg e.V. (LAVB). You can find the video here, and detailed information and links on the subject right below:
River Landscape of the Years 2024/25 is the River Stepenitz (Elbe)
In the context of the "Elblachs 2000" programme launched in the 1990s, the Brandenburg State Angling Association (LAVB) and the IfB started the reintroduction project for salmon and sea trout in the Stepenitz catchment area (Prignitz) in 1998, because this river is not only home to a large number of species that have disappeared in many other places, but is also characterised by a high level of preserved unspoiled nature and water quality.
In order to secure the successes of this project to date, to focus more strongly on the existing threats to one of our last intact watercourse systems, and to contribute to the further improvement of water conditions the German Angling Federation (DAFV), together with the German Naturefriends Association (NFD), selected the Stepenitz as the "River Landscape of the Years 2024/25" on 13 December 2023.
The Brandenburg Angling Association LAVB (Landesanglerverband Brandenburg) wants to engage the public and put the spotlight on these issues. Thus they have released three new videos on the YouTube channel to highlight and explain the reintroduction project for salmon and sea trout:
Video 3
You can find further information about this topic on the websites of the LAVB and the German Angling Association DAFV (Deutscher Angefischerverband e.V.) - in German language only
IfB enters into co-operation with two Indian universities
In March 2024, our institute signed Memorandi of Understanding with the Universities of Don Bosco in Assam and Manipur in Manipur. More information on the event and future activities can be found in the section About Us - Cooperations, Partners and Networks - Co-operations with India
Volume 65 of the IfB publication series: Development, utilisation and protection of the fish fauna in the Brandenburg Oder now available in Polish language
Thanks to the financial support of the MLUK (Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection of the State of Brandenburg), this important report could be translated and thus made available to our Polish colleagues. The report summarises historical and current fish data on the Oder against the backdrop of planned and ongoing development measures. Therefore it provides documentation on the ecological value of the river landscape as well as a basis for assessing the environmental impact of the Odra river development.
The report is available for download. You can find it in our publication database.
If you require a printed copy, please contact the IfB by email.
The Common River Mussel (or brook mussel, Unio crassus) Project, Brandenburg
In the last week of March 2023 the starting signal was given:
Minister Vogel started a project funded by the EU-Life-Programme, which will take care of the conservation of the Common River Mussel (or brook mussel) populations in Brandenburg over a period of 10 years!
The IfB is involved as a co-operation partner doing various studies and activities; the project is managed by the Brandenburg Nature Conservation Fund Foundation, with the Stuttgart Natural History Museum an additional co-operation partner.
We are very pleased about this success of our team in the Fish and Aquatic Ecology Department, which prepared and obtained the participation in this large project.
Here is the link to the official press release of the Brandenburg Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection.
In May 2023, the new Brandenburg Common River Mussel project actually started and the first work was carried out by IfB staff: more than 300 minnows were released in the Barolder Mühlenfließ. As native host fish species, minnows play a very important role in the life cycle of the endangered brook mussel.
The project-managing foundation NaturSchutzFonds Brandenburg has issued a press release on this activity (in German language, only).
"Fischforum am Jägerhof" 2024 - Training event at the Institute
New articles in peer-reviewed journals authored by IfB-scientists
EFRE building project successfully completed
"Fischforum am Jägerhof" 2023 - Training event at the Institute
Event review on the twin anniversary celebrations in September 2023: 100 years of Inland Fisheries Research at the "Jägerhof" site and 30 years since the founding of the IfB
Information on research projects with current relevance
(ongoing or completed)
Development of the German Eel population model GEM IIIb
Animal Welfare Index - an analysis tool to assess animal welfare in pikeperch farming
Fish Species Distribution Database - we would welcome your particpation!
Climate Change and Aquaculture
If you are interested in more detailed information on our ongoing or completed projects, please also visit our Publications page, where you can find and download themed issues (on individual topics) and annual reports (on current projects) based on the IfB publication series.