Otters Causing Conflicts: The Fish Farming Case of the Czech Republic

Abstract

In the Czech Republic fish farming is common throughout the country with a stronghold of carp production in southern Bohemia. The conflict arising from otter predation on commercial fish rapidly increased due to the political and social changes since 1989. Nature protection authorities undertook a set of measurements to appease the conflict. It included compensation schemes for losses, public relations etc., however, the conflict has continued. Within the FRAP project, social and ecological research was carried out and provided further recommendations how to mitigate the conflict. These are a continuous assessment of the compensation scheme, a simplification, differentiation and decentralization of the compensation payments, joint data collection, and setting up an organization of small pond farmers, a better involvement of stakeholders in conflict mitigation and further ecological research to better understand the biological background of the conflict.