Hero headWorld Fish Migration Day Report

World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) culminates every two years in a global celebration to create awareness about the importance of migratory fishes, whose populations have declined on average by 76% since 1970’s. This is extremely concerning not just for ecosystems, but also

the hundreds of millions of people globally that depend on freshwater fisheries for their livelihoods, for food and economic stability.

This year WFMD was celebrated on the 21st of May with two main global Hubs, one at the Fish Migration River at the Afsluitdijk, in The Netherlands and the other one in Lisbon, Portugal, where the 7th Annual Dam Removal International Seminar was hosted

by ANP|WWF Portugal, World Fish Migration Foundation, Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, Wetlands International, the European Open Rivers Programme and The Nature Conservancy.

After the hard times of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we are all step
by step getting our freedom back. This inspired the WFMD 2022 theme: “BREAK FREE”, which can be interpreted in many ways:

Breaking free from COVID,

Breaking free from barriers like dams and culverts,

Breaking free with new innovations and actions to open up rivers and help migratory fishes completing their life cycle, and Breaking free of barriers that prevent us from doing what we really want to do…

You can read the full report below