Basel – “Kois just don’t belong in the Rhine”

On Sunday a news scout made a curious discovery near the Rheinbad width bath. A koi carp swam in the Rhine. “I was walking with my family when my son saw a strange fish swimming in the Rhine,” said the news scout. His son asked what kind of fish it was. “At first he thought the fish was dead because it wasn’t swimming around right away,” says the man. The orange color of the fish seemed strange to him.

The news scout took a picture of the fish and sent a photo to a friend who is a fisherman. He then confirmed to him that it was a Koi that was probably released. The fisherman himself had already discovered several koi fish in the Rhine in 2019 and filmed one of them. An inspection on Monday showed: The Koi is still swimming around in the same place in the Rhine.

According to an expert who asked for 20 minutes, it could be a male specimen. However, the Koi is probably sick. The owner probably wanted to save the expensive treatment costs and therefore abandoned the fish in the Rhine, she suspects.

The release of fish in rivers is not uncommon, according to the Office for Forests in Basel, Department of Hunting and Fishing. In 2019, Gabriel Sutter, cantonal hunting and fishing specialist, said to 20 minutes: “It is not unusual for people to get rid of their pond fish. That is why goldfish also live in the Rhine. ” It is a criminal offense to abandon pets of all kinds. “There are enough other options. The fish can be returned or killed in an animal-friendly manner by a specialist, ”said Sutter at the time.

Under certain circumstances, koi could pose a threat to the local ecosystem. “A single koi in the Rhine does not hurt anyone,” said Sutter in 2019. Nevertheless, he calls on fishermen to catch the exotic species. “Kois just don’t belong in the Rhine,” says the expert.