Carp harvest marks start of countdown to Christmas in Czech Republic скачать в хорошем качестве

Carp harvest marks start of countdown to Christmas in Czech Republic

(2 Nov 2014) It's the moment Czechs know the countdown to Christmas has begun. Time for the annual carp harvest in the Czech Republic, a traditional practice that is now attracting crowds of onlookers. Before dawn fisherman gathered along the shores of Vrkoc pond in Southern Moravia for the annual carp harvest. What they do isn't so much fishing as it is trapping or in this case netting. In hip waders and waterproof coats, the men and a few women take to boats and step off of them into the murky waters. Using a centuries old technique, some haul enormous nets, others beat the water with sticks to scare their catch, carp, towards the shore. The carp glowing brown, green and golden in the dawn light wriggle furiously as they are snared and brought slowly to land to be sorted. It's a scene played out across Czech Republic in October and November. Here at Pohorilice Fishery it has become a spectator event explains the organiser Roman Osicka: "This event we organised for 20 years now has already become a tradition. We organise it for the people to come here so they can see the fishermen at work and try out our fish specialties." The fish are destined for the Christmas dinner table as a delicacy. They are kept alive until then in large industrial tanks, then sold on the streets across the country just before the holiday. But the numbers of carp are under pressure recently from a growing cormorant population, who are also fond of the fish much to the annoyance of fishery managers. "Cormorant is of course a big problem of a fresh water fishery, particularly the North European migrating type that comes to our area during the fall and stays until May. It causes us significant damage that we estimate somewhere between seven and eight million Koruna," says Osicka. For reasons unknown to scientists the cormorant population is growing, according to the Ministry of the Environment. Currently 700,000 pairs of the birds live in Europe. During the migration season in November 100,000 thousand of the pairs will winter in Czech Republic which boosts the population from just 300 pairs here the rest of the year. During winter (November onwards) cormorant have been known to descend on a pond or lake pick it clean of all its small fry (young fish) in just a few days. "Cormorants are so called food opportunists, they eat what is available and when they are here in the Winter they are trying to minimise energetic losses linked to searching for food, that is, they go where fish is available," explains Jan Sima, head of species protection at the Ministry of the Environment in the Czech Republic. The environment ministry used to compensate fisheries for damages done to them by the cormorant. In recent years they paid out 50 million koruna ($2.5 million). That was until the birds were dropped from the protected species list. Which takes the problem out of the hands of the ministry and puts it in the laps of the fisheries the owners say. Now they must pay to cull the numbers of birds with organised hunts. Which some of the fishery managers say they will hold from November onwards when the flocks of cormorants arrive. While the cormorants have yet to arrive, there are plenty of herons also standing by in the hope of a carp meal. The fishermen netted several tons from this pond in just one day. The lowly carp may be derided in some parts of the world, but here it's a must-have Christmas delicacy. Czechs gather for fish soup or fry them in breadcrumbs. They're even says to bring good fortune if you keep some of their scales in your wallet. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...