Capital specimens of brown trout, which have been caught in the Ćehotina in the last thirty days, confirm that the river has recovered after a major fish kill in 2019 caused by the discharge of wastewater from the Maljevac landfill into the Vezišnica River, a left tributary of the Ćehotina.
He told Vijesti that Vaso Knežević, one of the founders of the Lipljen Sports Fishing Club, which manages fishing waters in Pljevlja.
Knežević says that a few days ago he was a fisherman Rasim Hasanbegovic in Ćehotina, in the village of Brvenica, he caught a trout 77 centimeters long and weighing six kilograms.
A few days before that, he caught a trout weighing five kilograms in the part of the river in Žodovići, and in the place of Toplik, a trout 76 centimeters long and weighing 4,5 kilograms.
"The Ćehotina has recovered again. All the fish have been caught in the last month. There are no brown trout of this size in other Montenegrin rivers. The Ćehotina is a miracle river, but it is also well preserved. All these caught trout are in the part of the stream that was affected by the fish plague of 2019," said Knežević.
When asked how he explains that capital specimens of brown trout are caught in the Ćehotina, despite the fact that this river is one of the most polluted in Montenegro, Knežević said that this is primarily due to the advantages of the river itself.
"The Ćehotina is much tamer and richer in food compared to other Montenegrin salmonid waters, which are quite fast and leaner, with less food for fish. The second fact is that only in Montenegro is the Ćehotina the minimum allowed size for catching brown trout 30 centimeters, while in all other Montenegrin rivers it is 25 centimeters. And the third fact is that our fish wardens do a good job, that is, they protect the river and its fish stock from poachers. It should certainly be added that after the fish kill, the river has been continuously restocked since 2022 with indigenous brown trout from our spawning ground on the Breznica River, which will only provide additional results in the coming period in improving the condition of brown trout in Ćehotina," said Knežević.
Even before the fish plague, Ćehotina was rich in fish, which was once confirmed by Dr. Danilo Mrdak from the Faculty of Science in Podgorica, who, together with his colleagues, examined the state of fish stocks in the rivers of Pljevlja in 2017.
"Looking at the state of the fish stock alone, if we were to assess the overall state of the ecosystem, paradoxically it is, but I could say that the state is excellent. At first glance, you see Ćehotina, which is turbid, probably due to industry. Whether the fish have gotten used to it and evolved, or whether the turbidity is not constant and the fish can survive because of it, I really couldn't give an accurate answer. What I can say is that there are plenty of fish," said Mrdak.
Mrdak emphasized that he was delighted with the state of the fish stocks downstream from Pljevlja, after research in Gradac, in the town of Mejtef.
"What we found there is commendable. I can freely say that, and we have processed all the rivers in Montenegro - Zeta, Morača, Cijevna, Tara, Lim and others, we have never found such a large number of grayling anywhere... Not to mention white fish, there are exceptional quantities of scobalja. We found a mullet and saw a lot of brown trout."
The Study of the Fishing Basis of the Ćehotina River, conducted by experts from the Faculty of Fisheries in Podgorica last year, also states that the population of mullet in that river has a surprisingly good abundance, and that that river is one of the best, if not the best, for this umbrella species in the entire Drina sub-basin.
It is also noted that brown trout and grayling also showed a satisfactory state of their populations, "which indicates good management of fish populations in these waters."
"The population of bream in the Ćehotina is at a satisfactory level and this river is one of the last places in the Balkans where catching bream with appropriate lure fishing gear is quite certain. This makes the waters of the Ćehotina River very attractive, and it shows that the almost five-year ban on fishing for this species in the waters of the Ćehotina River has given its full result, due to good control and strict adherence to the prescribed rules," the Study states.
No one was held accountable for the fish kill in Ćehotina on July 5, 2019, although the then Board of Directors of the Electric Power Company of Montenegro apologized for the incident a few days after the incident, and Lipljen paid 341.000 euros for damages.
In January 2021, the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Pljevlja dropped the criminal prosecution of the Electric Power Company of Montenegro and four managers at the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant because the expert witness in that case, on whose findings the indictment was based, stated at the trial in the Pljevlja Basic Court that he did not fully stand by his findings on the causes that led to the death of a large amount of fish.
The former director of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant was accused of causing a fish kill by releasing wastewater from the Maljevac landfill into Vezišnica. Vladimir Šestović, shift leader Ratomir Debeljević, head of the department for operational control and planning Dragan Babic, and an expert in environmental protection Slavko Vukašinović.
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