Fishing in Lake Doirani is now lonely, where there are only 9 fishermen left to hunt for a living with their characteristic boats. The decline in water levels and fish stocks, together with the discrediting of the profession by the new residents of the area, has shrunk the number of fishermen, who a few decades ago were close to 100. Now, the plavas are mainly fished professionally by elderly people who count reverse for the pension and foretell the …loneliness of the lake in a few years.

In the last decade, 66-year-old Yannis Troupis, who used to go fishing with his father as a child, has been fishing professionally in the lake, while later running a refreshment stand in the area. “In the 1960s and 1970s there might have been 100 anglers on the lake, but now we are down to 9 professionals with 8 boats. Half of them are from the village of Doirani and the rest from the area of ​​Muria”, Mr. Troupis tells the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency. He attributes the decline of fishermen to the fact that local children did not follow the profession of their fathers and chose to leave for big cities and abroad.

“Furthermore, the production of fish decreased too much with the parallel decrease in the water level. “In fact, 30 years ago, when the level dropped dramatically, the lake “shrunk” a lot, which lasted a decade, but it recovered after a rainy winter,” recalls Mr. Troupis.

The grivadi is the fishermen’s main catch and in total the 9 fishing boats, Mr. Troupis estimates, produce about 20 tons of various catches annually. “My boat takes out about 2.5-3 tonnes a year, whereas we used to talk about 200-300 tonnes of catch coming out of the lake in total. Every day now – of course in the season when fishing is allowed, you have to catch at least 20 kilos of fish to leave 600 to 700 euros a month as income.”

According to Mr. Troupis, as it seems, those fishermen who are close to 60, will soon leave the profession and will not be replaced by young people as no one “comes to deal with the lake”, which will soon be deserted by human presence.

The lake is in good condition

The head of the Fisheries Department of the Directorate of Agricultural Economy and Veterinary Medicine Kilkis Ioannis Michaelidis characterizes the situation of Doirani in a good way.

“Compared to previous years, when the lake had been drawn down a lot due to weather conditions, its condition now is in a good place. In other words, we had a long period of drought, as a result of which the water and the level of Doirani has dropped too much. In 2014, due to the change in weather conditions, the level increased and the lake reached its old levels, with the result that the fish, which had disappeared at some point, had lost their breeding grounds due to the reduction of water, when the level they reproduced and now we have reached a point where the lake has 15-16 species of fish”, says Mr. Michaelidis to APE-MPE. He points out, however, that the level has dropped 50 to 60cm this year, due to the mild winter and reduced rainfall in the early Spring, but has returned to a good point with the May and June rains.

Grivadi but also foreign species

Lake Doirani is a fertile lake, which means that it is rich in nutrients, has many species of fish and algae as well as fauna around it, while the water quality, as in all lakes in Greece, is controlled by the Hellenic Center Biotopes-Wetlands (EKBY).

“In general, the water quality is in good condition for aquatic organisms to live. In the lake, we find grebe, perch, gourd and butterflyfish, which is a foreign species and was not present in its fish fauna”, says Mr. Michaelidis. As he explains, the enrichment of the lake, which was carried out uncontrollably and illegally in the 1960s, resulted in the introduction of the alien species that has now prevailed, changing the balance of the fish fauna.

“The butterfly can and does breed with the nymph and also feeds on fish eggs, thus reducing reproduction. In addition, because fishermen do not fish for it as it is not a marketable species in the area, it has prevailed in the lake” says Mr. Michaelidis, adding that the butterfly is traded in other areas, for example in Kastoria but not more widely in Kilkis as it is not preferred by the world.