The final conference for Retrout was held February 17, 2021, and was, due to the pandemic, a digital event. During the conference the Retrout-movie premiered, and multiple presentations and interesting discussions was held.
The Retrout final conference 2021, was a digital event due to the ongoing pandemic in the world. It was supposed to be a live event, but for safety measures and to make it more accessible for stakeholders and organisations to participate in the Retrout final conference it was decided to be a digital event.
During the opening of the conference the Retrout movie “Blue change” was premiered, showing the work and result of the Retrout-project in the Baltic sea region. The movie included a few examples of restorations project from the different countries included in the Retrout project. The movie showed the positive affect of river restoration for the recruitment of trout and how restoration and sustainable management of this ecosystem service could lead to “blue growth”.
Followed, several presentations were held with different speakers and interesting themes. Keynote speeches about dam and stream restoration, the status of the Baltic Sea Sea trout and the future of tourism were presented as a background to the Retrout project. The results of the project were presented including the hardships and solutions that different projects have encountered during the different dam and river restorations. The accumulated experience from the different restoration projects that the Retrout project has conducted is summarised in a set of guidelines for river restorations and will work as a foundation for future restoration projects and enhance the effect and facilitate the process of future restorations. The development of the Baltic sea as a sustainable fishing destination and the economic value of fishing tourism for the local economy was presented and we were introduced to the daily work of fishing guides in all five partner countries. The presentations were followed by discussions in themed chat rooms, a way to let the participants contribute to the conference.
To conclude the final conference a panel discussion with reflections and questions from the conference were arranged with the keynote speakers and the participants of the conference. The different subjects from the final conference was discussed along with achievements and difficulties of the Retrout project.
The recording of the final conference and to the movie “Blue Change” are accessible from the links below.
Presentations
Dam Removal. Restoring the biodiversity. Herman Wanningen
Status of Baltic Sea trout stocks. Martin Kesler
Best practices for river restoration. Henri Jokinen
Retrout river restoration projects. Hakan Häggström
The future of tourism. Frank Cuypers
The road to BalticSeaFishing. Gustav Almqvist.
The Assesment of economic impact of fishing tourism. Edmunds Jansons.
