Institute for Fish and Wildlife Health

Fish & Crayfish

Effect of sewage plants on fish community

An interesting observation occurred related to another project on PKD and brown trout stocking

Associated to the yearly-performed fish samplings in the river, we observed a prevalence of 0% to 100% of PKD in brown trout, in a very short river section, which was separated by a sewage plant located on the river. The question arose: is the introduction of sewage plant effluents partly responsible for this?

We want to address this question by samplings immediately up- and downstream of the sewage plant. In this study, several evaluations will be performed: quantitative measurements of brown trout and bryozoan populations (the final host of the parasite responsible for PKD), river water temperature and analysis of the habitat quality in this river segment.

Part of this project is funded by Swisslos

Project lead: PD, Dr. med vet Heike Schmidt-Posthaus, Dr. med. vet Helena Saura Martinez

Last updated: 2020/11/26