Threatened obligatory riverine fishes in human‐modified Polish rivers

Abstract – The fate of obligatory riverine fish species (rheophils), which are the objects of anglers' exploitation (chub – Leuciscus cephalus , nase – Chondrostoma nasus , barbel – Barbus barbus , gudgeon – Gobio gobio ), and brown trout ( Salmo trutta m. fario ) and grayling ( Thymallus thymallus ) (in the Gwda River basin only), were investigated in large alluvial rivers (Pilica and Warta) and in the medium‐sized Gwda River basin. The Pilica (1973) and the Warta (1986–1987) were divided by large dams without fish ladders in their middle courses. The Gwda River was divided by only a few dams along its course, but its tributaries carrying pure water had numerous small dams that supplied water for fish farms. Other stresses influencing fish populations in these rivers were: pollution, overfishing, hydroelectric plants and bank revetments. Because the listed stresses occurred alternately and at various periods of time in these rivers, this enabled attributing the cause for extinction and reduction of the abundance and distribution. In the salmon Gwda River basin, a drastic decrease in spatial distribution and reduction of occurrence ranges of brown trout, grayling and barbel was evident in respect to the first study period (1980s) in the 1990s. In the large, alluvial Pilica River, nase, barbel and dace are on the edge of extinction and chub and gudgeon are vulnerable. In the Warta's tailwater, barbel is an extinct species, and chub, dace and gudgeon are vulnerable ones. In a site in the backwater, none of the above mentioned species became extinct, but their abundance and occurrence frequency decreased a bit in respect to the pre‐impoundment period. Roach‐generalist, which was used in this research as a “control” species, increased in abundance in all 3 rivers. These investigations univocally proved that the dams cause catastrophic stress for obligatory riverine species. NOTE