Roach, stickleback, rudd, grebes and pike. That is what lives in the pond where no fish have actually ever been stocked. The eel may be the best known, but we know little about what lives here underwater. Jan Deramoudt, Golf Ter Hille Koksijde: “We have 20 ponds, 10 hectares in size. One pond is a bit larger than the other. To work on the drainage system, we have to empty the pond to replace pipes.”
Ready by summer
By summer, the golf course with these pools must be optimally irrigated again. Striking: the fish are spared during the works. It seems like charity, but according to Ter Hille it is normal that an Ecogolf cherishes nature. The Dutch specialists are impressed by the fish stock. They are convinced that four large pike also live in the small pool. Our fish species are being saved. Bram Van Wijk, fish stock specialist from the Netherlands: “We release all native species into the Nieuwpoort Dunkirk canal. We have permission to do so.”
Exotic species are not reintroduced
But the pond, like many inland waters, also contains too many exotic species that do not belong here. The sunfish, for example. An imported ornamental pond fish that causes great damage to native amphibians here. They do not reintroduce the sunfish.
By tonight the pool will be empty and work on the pipes can start.