Stow net fishery Ems 2025 : Fish fauna monitoring in accordance with the WFD

Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires assessment of the fish fauna in transitional waters as a quality component. For this purpose, a fish-based assessment tool (FAT) has been developed for Germany by BioConsult on behalf of and in coordination with the coastal federal states. On the basis of its location as a border-river between the Netherlands and Germany, the Ems has special requirements in terms of national monitoring. The assessment tool (FAT) was adapted to the Ems estuary in a binational cooperation within the framework of the Dutch-German cooperation in the Ems-Dollard region and specific requirements were also formulated for the corresponding monitoring.
In this context, BioConsult GmbH & Co. KG was contracted by Wageningen Marine Research to carry out the specified monitoring in the transitional waters in 2025. The study encompasses fishing at 3 sampling stations in the oligohaline, mesohaline and polyhaline zone by means of a stow net both in spring (April) and in autumn (September).
The presented report contains a description of the abiotic conditional framework during stow net fishing as well as a descriptive evaluation of the species communities at the three sampling stations.
This study does not encompass an assessment in accordance with WFD.