Business trip report, Slovakia, Drozd a kol.

Business trip report, Slovakia – Ichthyoplankton Sampling and Maintenance of Telemetry Gates as Part of the LIFE Living Rivers Project 

From May 10 to 14, 2026, FFPW USB staff members (Bořek Drozd, Erik Rijnsburger, Marek Let, Neil Angelo Abreo, Jan Kubec, Martin Vlk, Filip Kupka, Lukáš Veselý) undertook a business trip as part of the integrated LIFE Living Rivers project (101069837/ LIFE21-IPE-SK-Living Rivers). The business trip was focused on fulfilling Task T.6.5, aimed at verifying ongoing natural reproduction of the sterlet in the Slovak section of the Danube, and Task T.6.4, focused on the current migratory passability of the Gabčíkovo barrage system for fish. As part of the field activities, a new method—completely unique in European conditions—was tested for collecting drifting fish larvae in special ichthyoplankton nets in large rivers. The method builds on the experience of colleagues from North America. Numerous samples were collected during the activity and will now undergo laboratory analyses. In addition, telemetry gates were serviced, and data were downloaded for a long-term telemetry study studying the movement of key rheophilic species with implanted transmitters—the sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), the asp (Leuciscus aspius), and the barbel (Barbus barbus)—in the Slovak-Hungarian section of the Danube.

RNDr. Bořek Drozd, Ph.D.