Occurrence of salmonids in northeastern Bohemia and their economic value

Salmonid fishes are an important element of freshwater ecosystems in upper river basins, not least as they also play an important role in recreational fishing. In this study, I undertook an assessment of theoretical numbers and the economic value of salmonid stocks in northeastern fishing grounds. Summaries of angling catches served as a proxy for the first goal, while two methodologies were applied for assessing their monetary value. Angling catches strongly suggest a decline in the numbers of brown trout and grayling caught each year, while numbers of rainbow and brook trout have generally increased due to compensatory stocking. The theoretical monetary value salmonids was approximately 31 000 (sic) according to the Czech Anglers Union's methodology (food value only), and 55 000 (sic) according to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic's methodology (food, breeding, genetic and trophy value), based on 6.2 tonnes caught in 2018. Anthropogenic factors, climatic change and increasing occurrence of fish predators all play an important role in this negative assessment and collaboration between stakeholders may be the only way to address this situation.