Abstract
BackgroundThe Rhine-Neckar region is one of the most urbanised areas along the Rhine River and the world's largest industrial site, BASF SE, is located here at Ludwigshafen am Rhein. When the water quality dropped to its lowest values in the 1970s, BASF SE implemented a sewage treatment plant at its production site. In addition, electrofishing at this site has been carried out at regular intervals since 1976 in order to monitor changes in the fish population, whereby clear trends in both fish diversity as well as abundance have been noted.ResultsEspecially rheophilic fish species such as asp Aspius aspius (L.), barbel Barbus barbus (L.) and nase Chondrostoma nasus (L.) which were rarely found during the first catching period (1976 – 1980) were then caught in increasing numbers and abundance. Starting with 6 to 8 fish species per catch in the 1970s, the number has raised to 25 fish species (including 4 neozoans) in recent catches. Overall 31 species have been monitored in the last 34 years.ConclusionsThis indicates good river water quality and an increase in fish biodiversity along the BASF site at Ludwigshafen over the last three decades. However, focussing on the past decade, new invasive fish species such as the sunfish Lepomis gibbosus (L.) and three gobies have been found in high densities along the river banks which might have an impact on the fish population in this area in the future.
Highlights
The Rhine-Neckar region is one of the most urbanised areas along the Rhine River and the world's largest industrial site, BASF SE, is located here at Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Focussing on the past decade, new invasive fish species such as the sunfish Lepomis gibbosus (L.) and three gobies have been found in high densities along the river banks which might have an impact on the fish population in this area in the future
Starting in December 1976, 6 fish species were found along the Rhine site at BASF SE Ludwigshafen (Figure 2)
Summary
The Rhine-Neckar region is one of the most urbanised areas along the Rhine River and the world's largest industrial site, BASF SE, is located here at Ludwigshafen am Rhein. The Rhine is one of the most “mainstreamed” rivers in Europe, balancing several aspects including transport, drinking water supply, cooling water, energy reservoir, as well as being used for effluent disposal, and providing leisure activities such as fishing (Figure 1). The former structure of the river itself had been dramatically changed as a result of the invasive canalisation project by. One of the commitments was the installation of the world’s largest industrial sewage treatment plant (approx. 110 million m3 waste water per year, equivalent to a city of approx. 3 million inhabitants) located at the BASF SE site in Ludwigshafen am Rhein (Rhine-Neckar Metropolis Region, Germany) [12,17]
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