ICPR – International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine

Programme “Salmon 2000” and “Salmon 2020”

The programme "Salmon 2000", as part of the "Rhine Action Programme" (1987-2000) was another precursor of "Rhine 2040" and "Rhine 2020" in the field of ecology and river continuity.  This was updated as "Salmon 2020" and integrated into the programme "Rhine 2020".

Programme Salmon 2000  (not available in English)

Programme Salmon 2020  (not available in English)

Around the turn of the millennium, the first successes were also reported in the area of fish fauna:

  • Since 1990, first salmon had been migrating upstream from the North Sea through the Rhine delta and the Lower Rhine into the R. Sieg, where they naturally reproduce since 1994.
  • The Rhine fauna had recovered. Fish from the Rhine (apart from eel) were again edible. With 63 species, the fish fauna of the old Rhine was almost complete, only the sturgeon was missing.
  • Thanks to newly constructed fish ways along weirs, migratory fish as salmon and sea trout could again migrate from the North Sea into the Upper Rhine and some tributaries in Alsace and the Black Forest where they spawn. In Iffezheim, the first large fish pass at an Upper Rhine barrage was put into operation in 2000.