Many Dutch carp moved to bigger lake

This October 2018 Dutch video is about Oostvaardersplassen national park in the Netherlands.

This is a marshy area, a good environment for, eg, white-tailed eagles and reed warbler relative birds.

However, now the water level is too high. Reed beds disappear. Bad for reed warblers, bluethroats and similar birds.

So, the video says, there are plans to make the water level 80 centimetre lower. But that would mean not enough water for the many carp living there now.

This 2019 video is about spawning carp in the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in the Netherlands.

Jonathan van Deelen made this video.

Today, ranger Hans-Erik Kuypers blogs about these carp.

Ever since November 2019, 38 tons of carp have been caught and moved to the much bigger Markermeer lake next door, so that the fish that will stay in Oostvaardersplassen will have enough space as the water level drops.

The carp moved to the Markermeer weigh on average five kilograms and are 70 centimetres long. They are healthy. Some of them were freed in the Markermeer with radio transmitters on. The transmitter data showed the fish stayed in the Markermeer. So, there was enough food for them.

More carp will be moved until 2021. And then, the lower water level should provide a good environment for reed beds, reed bed birds and the fish that were not moved.