Welcome to SWIMWAY Wadden Sea

Wadden Sea World Heritage

The Wadden Sea is the largest tidal flats system in the world, where natural processes proceed largely undisturbed. The UNESCO World Heritage property extends along the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. In the framework of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation (TWSC), Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands take on the responsibility of preserving this irreplaceable ecosystem for the benefit of present and future generations.

The Wadden Sea ecosystem holds important habitats for fish species - at least at some parts of their life stages. Yet, populations of many fish species in the Wadden Sea have declined in recent decades.

 

Fish conservation

Already in 2010, Danish, Dutch and German fish experts developed conservation objectives for fish - the so-called Trilateral Fish Targets in the Wadden Sea Plan.

Fish experts conduct a regular assessment of the trilateral targets in the Wadden Sea Quality Status Report (QSR). An overarching target for fish conservation in the Wadden Sea was described by authors of the 2017 QSR thematic report on fish:

There should be no human-induced bottlenecks in the Wadden Sea for fish populations or their ecosystem functions (Tulp et al, 2017)

 

A trilateral Expert Group Swimway (EG-Swimway, former Working Group, WG-Swimway) is working on improving the situation for fish in the Wadden Sea (see organisational structure of Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation). This goal is to be achieved by fostering trilateral collaboration on the implementation of the trilateral fish targets and to provide an overarching SWIMWAY approach as umbrella for initiatives related to achieving the targets according to the Swimway Vision Action Programme.

 

SWIMWAY Wadden Sea

SWIMWAY Wadden Sea is an overarching approach - an umbrella – for a wide variety of initiatives related to achieving these targets. In 2019, a Trilateral Wadden Sea Swimway Vision Action Programme was published. This Action Programme involves steps to operationalize the Fish Targets by deriving concrete courses of action.

 

SWIMWAY Wadden Sea is connected to the World Fish Migration Foundation and Global Swimways.

 

 

Swimway Wadden Sea
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News – latest Swimway stories

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A FEW SPOTS LEFT FOR THE SECOND TRILATERAL SWIMWAY CONFERENCE

Scheduled from 17-19 April 2024, in Groningen, Netherlands, the second Trilateral Swimway Conference is dedicated to understanding and preserving diverse fish life cycles in the world's largest tidal flats system. The programme includes the latest research on fish life cycles, accompanied by discussions on practical measures to safeguard these populations. Emphasising learning from both successful and unsuccessful management approaches, the conference aims to address the complexities facing fish populations in the Wadden Sea. Registration is still open with a few spots still available.
PMC conference picture by Anke Neumeister

Experts discuss how to stop biodiversity loss at the International Marine Conservation Conference PMC.

Just over 200 participants joined the international marine conservation conference "Progress in Marine Conservation" (PMC) themed "How to stop biodiversity loss - from knowledge to action" in September 2023 in Stralsund, Germany. In over 50 presentations and 8 workshops, they discussed how to tackle the marine biodiversity crisis. The Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS), representing the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation, actively participated in the event.
Landscape with the Swimway logo

Second Trilateral Swimway Conference confirmed for April 2024, and call for abstracts opened.

In the framework of the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation (TWSC), the second Trilateral Swimway Conference will be held from 17-19 April 2024 in Groningen, the Netherlands. Focusing on applying scientific evidence to manage human impacts on fish life cycles, the conference approach is to balance the outcomes of the latest research on fish life cycles with contributions to the practical implementation of scientific findings to dedicated and effective conservation efforts.
Shire

International project reveals historical fish assemblages in the Wadden Sea

The trilateral Wadden Sea is a highly dynamic area, providing shelter from predators and rich feeding grounds for a host of fish species. Present long-term data sets used for determining conservation strategies and targets only go back as far as 1960, a period in which the area was already under extensive anthropogenic pressure. To be able to set realistic targets for conservation strategies aimed at pre-defined objectives such as the trilateral fish-targets, additional data is required that go further back in time.
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SHIRE partners discuss study results on fish species occurrence in past 500 years

In the past months, a team of experts and students from DTU Aqua (Denmark), the University of Kiel (Germany), Groningen University (Netherlands) and the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS) worked on the reconstruction of the historical fish assemblage of the Wadden Sea in the project "Systematic review for historical reconstruction of the Wadden Sea fish assemblage – Swimway historical reference" (SHIRE), funded by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV).
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Kick-off for SHIRE project on Wadden Sea fish history

What did the fish community in the Wadden Sea look like in historic times? What were the drivers of change? These questions will be addressed in the project "Systematic review for historical reconstruction of the Wadden Sea fish assemblage – Swimway historical reference" (SHIRE), funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), the Netherlands, conducted from January to July 2022.
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Policy statement on the Wadden Sea SWIMWAY approved

In the Leeuwarden Declaration, the Wadden Sea Board (WSB) was instructed to further develop and contribute to implementing the SWIMWAY Vision (at Annex 3 of the Leeuwarden Declaration) as an integrated approach to achieving the Trilateral Fish Targets by investigating, monitoring, managing and communicating topics concerning the ecology of fish of the Wadden Sea Area.
Fact
140 species

Many of the 140 fish species recorded in the Wadden Sea are visiting from the North Sea. Others use the Wadden Sea as a passage during their migration from the sea to the rivers, as an important nursery area for juveniles or as a spawning area in the North Sea. About 20 species are resident in the Wadden Sea and leave the tidal area only during exceptionally cold winters.