Catfish thriving in Switzerland due to climate change

Warmer water encourages catfish growth Keystone-SDA

Over the last 20 years, the number of catfish caught in Switzerland has increased massively. Warmer watercourses encourage these predators to reproduce. And they are getting bigger.

An amateur fisherman recently pulled a 2.2-metre-long catfish weighing 86.5 kilos from the Old Rhine near Diepoldsau in the eastern canton of St Gallen, reported the Der Rheintaler newspaper.

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Catfish over two metres long are regularly caught, particularly in Lake Constance, according to David Frei of the deputy head of the fisheries department in the canton of St. Gallen.

More and more catfish hooked

Anglers have been catching more and more catfish in Swiss waters over the last 20 years. The most recent figures from the Federal Office for the Environment date from 2023. At that time, 7,622 catfish were recorded in the fishing statistics, compared with just 506 in 2003.

This sharp increase is thought to be linked to the increasingly high water temperatures caused by global warming, explains Frei. This favours both the spread and the growth of catfish.

As a result, reports of particularly large and heavy catfish have increased in recent years. In 2011, a sports fisherman caught a 2.40-metre catfish weighing 83 kilograms at the mouth of the Rhine in Lake Constance.

Attack on bathers in Germany

On June 20, a catfish caused quite a stir in Germany. According to the police, the two-metre-long fish attacked and injured at least five bathers in Lake Brombachsee in Bavaria. A policeman finally fired his service weapon at the animal.

Canton St. Gallen is not aware of any catfish attacks on bathers or domestic animals, explains Frei. “What’s important is that we humans show respect for aquatic creatures such as catfish,” he adds.

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Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

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