SWAMP

Conserving the European weatherfish

Help protect the weatherfish through habitat restoration, biodiversity conservation and climate-resilient river management across Europe.

Mission

We aim to prevent the weatherfish from fading into oblivion and restore its role as Europe’s “living barometer” to mitigate climate change. By raising awareness and implementing conservation measures, we strive to protect this key species and promote natural river restoration.

Aims

  • Bring together all weatherfish experts into one forum.
  • Centralize existing knowledge through a shared website and database.
  • Stimulate international cooperation through knowledge exchange, joint project proposals and scientific publications.
  • Organize international meetings, workshops and symposia.
  • Promote the weatherfish as a flagship species for restoring natural river dynamics, including rewetting, environmental flows and free-flowing rivers under the Nature Restoration Law.
  • Increase awareness among the public, practitioners and governments about weatherfish conservation and habitat management.

Tasks

  • Map the current distribution and population trends across the entire weatherfish range.
  • Exchange knowledge on habitat preferences, monitoring methods, climate adaptation, invasive species, pesticide sensitivity and (re)introduction success.
  • Optimize ex-situ breeding protocols to support restoration efforts.
  • Promote the weatherfish as a flagship species for restored floodplains and natural river dynamics.
  • Collect information on the ecology, life history and genetics of introduced Asian weatherfish species.

Core Team

  • Jeroen Van Wichelen
    NBO (Belgium) – Chair
    LinkedIn |
    ORCID
  • Mick Vos
    RAVON (The Netherlands) – Co-chair
    LinkedIn
  • Johan Auwerx
    INBO (Belgium)
    LinkedIn
  • Marek Šmejkal
    Institute of Hydrobiology (Czech Republic)
  • Ferenc Zoltán Demény
    LFA-MV (Germany)
    LinkedIn
  • Wolfgang Schmalz
    FLUSS (Germany)
  • Josef Wanzenböck
    University of Innsbruck (Austria)
    ORCID |
    ResearchGate
  • Hendrik-Jan Megens
    Wageningen University & Research (The Netherlands)
    ORCID |
    LinkedIn

Join SWAMP

Would you like to contribute to this specialist group? Complete the form below to join the SWAMP mailing list. Members receive access to our shared resource library containing scientific papers, reports (including documents in native languages), book chapters, historical publications, photographs and other valuable reference material.

Sign up for our mailing list

Contact