• Credits of 80 million euros from the recovery plan were released for this project of two fish passes located at the hydroelectric dams of Rhinau and Marckolsheim in Alsace.

  • These passes, with a cumulative length of around 1,000 meters each, will be the largest of their kind in France.

    They are scheduled for 2025 and 2026.

They will be among the largest in Europe. Two gigantic fish passes will be built in the Bas-Rhin on the French bank of the river. All for the tidy sum of 80 million euros, said Wednesday the Secretary of State for Biodiversity. They are designed to allow fish to cross natural and man-made obstacles along the Rhine, from Basel (Switzerland) to the mouth in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). They aim in particular to promote the return of salmon, the emblematic fish of the Rhine which has disappeared since the serious pollution caused by the fire at the Sandoz chemical plant in Basel in November 1986.

Credits of 80 million euros from the recovery plan were released for these projects located at the hydroelectric dams of Rhinau and Marckolsheim.

These credits thus allowing the start of their work this fall, specifies the cabinet of Bérangère Abba, Secretary of State for biodiversity.

They will finance the entire cost of these two structures, the commissioning of which is scheduled for 2025 and 2026 respectively.

A "record" number of salmon in 2020

These passes, with a cumulative length of around 1,000 meters each, will be the largest of their kind in France. Their dimensions in Rhinau and Marckolsheim, and consequently their cost, can be explained by the particularly complex characteristics of the Rhine and its developments in these places, explained the cabinet of Bérangère Abba. Four less important structures of the same type have already been put into service during the last two decades along the Franco-German bank of the Rhine, as well as two others on old branches of the river, completed the Saumon Rhin association. These constructions "bear fruit, but we must remain cautious," said Jean Franck Lacerenza, director of the association responsible for counting salmon. Last year, it recorded a "record" number of 200 on the pass from Iffezheim (Germany),north of Strasbourg. But the result of the count promises to be lower this year, warned Jean Franck. Lacerenza.

In France, the creation or redevelopment of 5,000 smaller crossings are scheduled until 2027 on various rivers, for an amount of 700 million euros entered in the budgets of the territorial water agencies.

The Rhinau and Marckolsheim projects benefit from the recovery plan because of their exceptional nature, explained the cabinet secretary of state for biodiversity.

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  • Rhine

  • Biodiversity

  • Environment

  • Salmon

  • Strasbourg

  • Fish