Fishing Zealand – a cooperative project

Fishing Zealand is an ambitious project comprising a number of different partners.

Denmark’s Sport Fishing Association, various municipalities on Zealand and the islands and volunteer sport fishermen all work together with local businesses and tourist organizations to develop sustainable sport fishing and to improve the possibilities for fishing in the region as a whole. The project makes a positive contribution to sport fishing tourism and growth in local businesses, but also to the environment and to sport fishermen.

Fishing Zealand is currently organized with a political supervisory group and a project group. Both groups comprise members who represent the various partners.

Here is an overview of the present group of partners and the role they play in Fishing Zealand.

Denmark’s Sport Fishing Association

– the ones who started it all

Denmark’s Sport Fishing Association is the country’s largest umbrella organization for sport fishermen. The association was founded in 1938 in order to give members a louder voice in environmental and political issues related to sport fishing and thereby to contribute toward maintaining and improving the possibilities for enjoying the world’s best hobby.

In 2010 Denmark’s Sport Fishing Association launched the project Fishing Zealand in an attempt to place the wet natural environment on the agenda on Zealand and the islands, and by so doing to create a greater understanding of the importance of reviving and maintaining a well functioning natural environment. They wanted to place greater emphasis on the potential of the rivers for trout and for the spawning and growth of brackish water pike and perch. Fishing Zealand plays a role in creating new partnerships and in promoting the revival and maintenance of good waterways. The association and Fishing Zealand also support the vital efforts in breeding and releasing trout carried out by Zealand’s Trout Association.

Municipalities

– with ambitions

Fishing Zealand started out as a cooperative effort between Denmark’s Sport Fishing Association and the municipalities of Odsherred and Vordingborg. The municipalities of Roskilde and Guldborgsund followed shortly after and now several municipalities have joined the project. The goal is to include all the municipalities on Zealand and the islands.

But there are also requirements. The member municipalities are required to work actively to ensure good quality lakes and rivers and to improve the conditions for spawning and growth of trout, pike, perch and other types of fish. This involves both water quality, water flow, passages and physical variation. Rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal waters of good quality are essential for sustainable fishing, something that is high on the list of many native and foreign tourists – and which thus generates tax revenue for the municipalities.

Tourist organizations

– who believe in sustainable sport fishing tourism

The tourist organizations in the various municipalities are well aware that there is a strong potential in attracting sport fishermen. A report published in 2010 by the Danish Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fishing on the socio-economic significance of sport fishing in Denmark emphasized how valuable sport fishermen are to the economy. When the consumption of Danish sport fishermen is combined with that of foreign sport fishermen, the result is 2.9 billion Danish Crowns. Fishing Zealand cooperates with the tourist organizations and business organizations in the various municipalities to increase the number of sport fishing tourists and thus the income in the regions – but the primary focus is always that these activities must be carried out in a sustainable fashion –to the satisfaction of both fish, fishermen and tourism for years to come.

Private partners and businesses

– all working in the right direction

Private businesses in the various member municipalities like hotels, B&B’s, restaurants, boat rental companies, fishing equipment outfitters etc. can become members of Fishing Zealand. This means, however, that they must live up to Fishing Zealand’s standards of quality, which are similar to those required by ActiveDenmark/VisitDenmark under the heading “Fishing Denmark”.

Fishing Zealand works with its members in the areas of consulting, marketing, event planning and many more. You can find an overview of members in the various categories in Plan Your Fishing Trip, and we encourage you to support the businesses that support Fishing Zealand and the concept of sustainable sport fishing.

If you belong to a business that would like to cooperate with Fishing Zealand, we would like to hear from you. Send us a mail at info@fishingzealand.dk.

Volunteers and Clubs

– working to support our efforts

Sport fishing clubs and lots of volunteers from the entire area have worked diligently and intensively for many years to improve fishing. Partly by recreating good rivers and partly through efforts targeted at breeding and releasing. The efforts of these groups and individuals has paid off, and if it hadn’t been for their tremendous work, things would look much worse. Fishing Zealand is extremely grateful to these volunteers, who are still going strong. Read more about volunteer efforts.

Unfortunately there is still a lot of room for improvement. In particular we need to improve the conditions in the rivers – both when it comes to environments for spawning and growing and the possibility for fish to swim freely between fresh water and the ocean, and here the clubs and volunteers will also play a significant role in the future.

The efforts of sport fishing clubs in spreading knowledge of sport fishing among the youth and other interested individuals is a necessary prerequisite for ensuring that there will be sport fishermen in the future. Therefore, support local fishing clubs – they are the backbone of a strong Fishing Zealand.

The important work of catching mother fish and releasing hatchlings is carried out by clubs organized under the Danish Trout Association. This association is an important partner in Fishing Zealand, and its representatives have been a part of Fishing Zealand right from the start of the project in 2010.

We are currently working on a complete overview of the many clubs that support Fishing Zealand.