The findings, published in the Croatian Journal of Fisheries, show that from 2024 to 2021 the common bream catch as well as the wels catfish catch declined significantly, according to the article by Tomislav Treer.
The data were collected based on official information from the Agriculture Ministry's Fisheries Department and annual reports on artisanal fish catches.
For instance, the common bream catch fell from 4,312 kilos in 2010 to 338 kilos in 2021, while the wels catfish catch fell from 646 kilogrammes in 2006 to 122 kilos in 2020.
The Sava flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally through Serbia, feeding into the Danube in Belgrade.
"Since 2013, this has also been the case for Cyprinus carpio, Esox lucius, Sander lucioperca, other autochthonous species and alochthonous species, while catches of Leuciscus idus have declined significantly since 2014. The catches of three species (Acipenser ruthenus, Leuciscus aspius and Tinca tinca) fluctuated without a trend, which can be attributed to the low quantities. This decline in catches of the most sought-after species in the Sava was greater than that of the other less sought-after autochthonous species (mainly other cyprinids), whose share of the total catch increased significantly," Treer says in the abstract of his article.