Due to an error during work for the construction of the Uithoorn line, more than a hundred fish in Uithoorn were stuck in the mud last week. After local residents had raised the alarm, the emergency team of the Amsterdam Angling Association rescued the animals. “A one meter long pike was lying in a small layer of water,” said a witness.
Something went wrong when dredging a ditch on the Wederik. “We wanted to leave a low water level so that the fish could continue to swim, but the pump turned out to be incorrectly adjusted,” says Katja Torbijn of the Uithoornlijn project organisation. As a result, the water level dropped so drastically that ‘there was not enough living space for the fish’, the organization writes in a message about the events.
The fact that the fish survived is thanks to local residents, the project organization behind the future tram line also acknowledges. They sounded the alarm, after which contractor Dura Vermeer immediately took action. “Ten minutes later, water was pumped into the ditch again,” said Torbijn.
fishermen
Not much later, the police, the municipality and animal ambulance also arrive at the ditch, and the work is temporarily halted. The animal ambulance in turn calls in the Amsterdamse Hengelsportvereniging (AHV), which sends its emergency team to it.
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“‘What you are doing is a crime,’ I said to Dura Vermeer,” Jaap Que, who is not only a member of the emergency team, but also chairman of AHV, tells NH Nieuws. According to him, Dura Vermeer has been negligent in not hiring an ecologist, which is mandatory for these types of projects.
“It remains human work, so something can go wrong”
According to Torbijn, that is not correct. “We have called in an ecologist and followed all protocols. But it is still human work, so something can go wrong.” Another witness questions her statement that the pump was misadjusted. “I think they turned on that pump, started drinking coffee and never looked back.”
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After some time, the water level was back to normal, although the small loaches, pike, bitterlings, grouse and bass had not yet been saved. The pumped back water contained so little oxygen that the fish could not have survived in it either.
It was decided to capture the animals. That was not possible with pulse, but with nets. In the end, residents and fishermen joined forces and transferred the animals to another ditch.