Ecological rehabilitation of the River Meuse, the fish fauna and its habitat

The communication shortly reports on several rehabilitation programmes which have been undertaken in the River Meuse and its tributaries in Wallonia since the early eighties. It mainly focuses on four actions : i) rehabilitation of migratory Salmonids : enhancement of sea trout (Salmo trutta trutta) and reintroduction of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar: 'Meuse salmon 2000' project) in the Ardennes; ii) improvement of fish migration through the building of new efficient fish passes in navigation weirs; iii) captive breeding of large running water cyprinids (target species : Barbus barbus) and rebuilding of populations using hatchery-reared fish; iv)determination of physical habitat requirements of fish species of the trout, grayling and barbel zones and conservation/restoration of key habitats (spawning and nursery grounds and hiding places).