Vienna (OTS) – “From the current answer to my parliamentary question regarding the day of creation of fishermen (question no. 14296/J, the answer no. 13649/AB) it can be seen that the biodiversity of fish in Austria is not a concern of Green Environment Minister Gewessler. It shifts the responsibility to the federal states and denies any responsibility for the biodiversity of fish in Austria,” said the FPÖ agricultural spokesman NAbg. Peter Schmiedlechner. “Unbelievable, I thought all animals belonged to biodiversity!”, the liberal agricultural spokesman Peter Schmiedlechner was annoyed and explained: “When asked regarding a national solution, she said that the federal states were responsible for fish protection in Austria.”
“In this context, I don’t want to go unmentioned that fewer and fewer fish are swimming in our waters. In my opinion, the exaggerated protection of species, such as the otter, is also partly to blame. In Austria, this is protected all year round by the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive and the animals can only be legally removed in exceptional cases. And yes, Madam Minister, it is a matter for the federal states and many federal states are already looking for ways to regulate the now very high population of otters and other fish predators, but this is currently very difficult. You would be responsible for changing this or suggesting a change!” emphasized Schmiedlechner.
The minister’s statement that free-living fish have no owner, which is why there can be no damage, is also incomprehensible. Schmiedlechner pointed out that as Minister for the Environment you should know that even things without an owner, and there are many of them in the environment, might suffer damage, which might definitely be quantified. “I summarize the answers to my questions to Gewessler – she doesn’t care regarding fish and according to the Greens they don’t belong to natural biodiversity!”, the liberal agricultural spokesman clarified.
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