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Dieren en planten

Eel family   Eel   

Water en land

Mens en Milieu

Gillnetting   Fyke fisheries   
Fyke, Foto Fitis, www.fotofitis.nl

Fyke fisheries

You swim with the current through a large hoop. Nothing but space around you, no reason to be suspicious. Suddenly the tunnel gets narrower, until you reach a passage which you can just get through. Fortunately, there is a roomy tunnel on the other side. You add speed as you go further. And then the tunnel gets even more narrow, again with a small passage. After five or six such hoops, there is no more tunnel, but going back is not an option. You are caught in a fyke. Fykes are used along the coast, in the delta waters and in the Wadden Sea for catching eel, crabs and lobsters in particular.

  • Drowned seals

    Fish which swim into a fyke are an attractive prize for a seal. Once in the fyke, the seal cannot get out and drowns. Since 1994 in the Netherlands, all fykes in tidal waters are required to be equipped with a retaining net to keep out seals. This retaining net is a large-meshed net in the first hoop of the fyke, through which eel can swim, but not seals. Nevertheless, there are still seals drowning in fykes which are not equipped with the required retaining net.