Business trip report, Slovakia, Kubec and others

Monitoring of Fish Communities in the Danube Inland Delta, Slovakia

From 23 to 28 August 2026, staff and students from the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (FFPW USB) – Jan Kubec, Martin Vlk, Lukáš Veselý, Natalie Z. Szydlowska, Pavel Svoboda, Daniel Kvapil, Pavel Staněk, Marek Let, Filip Dolejší, Lukáš Libert, Lukáš Beránek, Erik Rijnsburger, Vojtěch Šulák, Eliška Voráčková, and Josef Vajai – carried out regular monitoring of fish communities in the inland Danube Delta in Slovakia as part of the integrated LIFE project Living Rivers (101069837/LIFE21-IPE-SK-Living Rivers).

The aim of the monitoring was to assess the current status, species composition, and structure of fish communities in this unique riverine ecosystem of European importance, whose hydrological and ecological conditions are strongly influenced by the construction and operation of the Gabčíkovo waterworks system.

The field monitoring was conducted in cooperation with project partners from the Slovak Angling Association and the State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic. WWF Slovakia and BROZ also contributed to the media coverage and public outreach associated with the event. The field activities were documented by professional photographer and visual storyteller Diana Takacs.