Press
An introduced predatory fish is depleting the local fishing grounds in Lake Garda. Now divers without oxygen equipment are hunting the animals, which can grow up to three meters long.
Salò – Lake Garda is the favorite bathing spot of Austrians and Germans in northern Italy. Its rocky coasts, palm trees and crystal-clear water attract tourists in droves. But beneath its surface, dramas take place every day: huge predatory fish hunt pretty much everything that moves beneath the surface.
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They are catfish, also known as wels, which are found in the river system of the Rhine and all rivers further east in central, eastern and southeastern Europe as far as Asia (Afghanistan). The species, which can live up to 100 years and weigh over 300 kilos, is not native to areas south of the Alps, which is why the natural ecosystems there are not adapted to them. But the catfish was probably introduced to northern Italy by anglers who wanted to catch it, and is now spreading in the lakes of northern Italy as well as in the Po and its tributaries.
There are already massive problems at Lake Iseo near Brescia, as the catfish is a predatory fish that eats almost everything that comes into its long-whiskered mouth: in addition to live and dead fish, its prey includes amphibians, crustaceans, insects, worms and other invertebrates, even young water birds and pigeons, as well as small mammals such as mice and rats. The catfish has now also established itself in Lake Garda.
Invaded fish species eats rivers and lakes dry
“This fish cannot be the scapegoat for all the problems of Lake Garda, which is threatened by other critical problems such as sewage discharges and illegal fishing networks, but the combination of causes, including the catfish, is leading to an impoverishment of remarkable native fish,” reports freediver Marco P. to larena.itHe and his diving friend Stefano G. hunt for catfish without oxygen but armed with harpoons. The two have refined the technique over the years.
“It is very voracious,” says Stefano G., president of the Brescia apnea club and vice president of the Garda Sports Fishermen’s Union. He still remembers his first contact with a “torpedo,” as the Italians call the catfish: “About twenty years ago, during a recultivation project in a canal near Mantua, we were called for help by the local fishermen. They were desperate because the fish they were putting in was being eaten by catfish.”
Giant specimens have already been caught in the Po River and other rivers
At that time, he caught a very strong catfish weighing 60 kilos. “After I hit it, it tried to free itself and escape: it dragged me halfway across the canal before I managed to bring it to the bank.” Stefano G., who lives in Salò on the west bank, was one of the 45 fishermen who recently carried out the first action to reduce the catfish population on Lake Garda.
![The amateur angler pulled this 2.80 meter long catfish out of the Po River in Italy.](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/31/945/31945823-der-hobbyangler-zog-diesen-80-meter-langen-wels-in-italien-aus-dem-po-O7BG.jpg)
Normally catfish are caught with fishing rods, but in rivers they have long been hunting the underwater monster, which reaches considerable sizes there. Marco and Stefano’s apnea fishing technique is exotic: “The duration of our dives is on average one and a half to two and a half minutes,” explains Stefano G.
“The catfish has the typical behaviour of fish at the top of the food chain, it knows instinctively that it has no natural enemies.” It behaves aggressively towards other fish, but is rather apathetic in the presence of humans. “If it is not hit in a vital area, it reacts violently and you have to know how to deal with it, even from the surface, using the reel that the harpoon is equipped with.”
His friend Marco P. confirms: “It’s not particularly technical fishing because, as it’s a fish that’s not used to being hunted, it doesn’t swim away.” The problem is to overpower it once it’s harpooned. P.: “It has incredible power and if you’re not an expert, it only takes a moment for it to go around your fins or arm and pull you down.”
The number of catches is increasing dramatically, reports Marco P.: “Six years ago I caught maybe six a year, this year it’s over 50, the average weight is 25 kilos, the biggest weighed 80 kilos.” And what happens to the catfish that are caught? “I give them to some people from the East that I know, for whom they are a delicacy. If there is one thing I don’t do, it is kill a wild animal and throw it away.”
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