Řeka Ohře ve světle vědeckých a praktických rybářských aktivit Antonína Friče realizovaných v rámci záchranné akce na zvýšení populace lososa obecného (Salmo salar) v řekách na území Čech v poslední třetině 19. století

Abstract

The present study addresses the previously neglected activities of Professor Dr Antonín Frič (1832–1913) from the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia (now the National Museum, Prague), realised for the purposes of fisheries development as part of the protective actions in the 1870s through the 1890s to increase the population of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Czech rivers. Primary attention is devoted here to Frič’s interest in the Ohře River and its tributaries, which became a major focus for him in the 1880s. Migration of fish into the Ohře, then faced with significant pollution, had been blocked for over a century thanks to the construction of the fortress in Terezín in 1780–1790. A significant event in this respect was the creation of two fish ladders, then still unique in Bohemia, installed in 1885 and 1887 on the strategic weir below the fortress bridge across the New Ohře. Mention is made of Antonín Frič’s achievements in founding fishing associations (Louny, Karlovy Vary, Žatec) and their mutually enriching cooperation. The text is derived primarily from the research results published by Frič and his colleagues in the journal Vesmír and in book form, as well as the study of Frič’s correspondence (Archive of the National Museum, Literary Archive of the National Literary Monument), historic museum catalogues, and Frič’s personal fisheries collections (zoology department of the Museum of Natural Sciences, National Museum, Prague).