and fishing, become useable for agriculture. As a consequence the biodiversity, soil composition and the culture/tradition was changed. Nowadays the remaining of the natural system of the river can be found in nature conservation areas, however the traditional fishing is not practiced anymore. Fishing technique: The fish doesn’t breed in the fast flowing river bed but in the warmer shallow still water. The floodplain areas were functioning during the flood as ponds where the fish could breed. When the flooding period was over they migrate back to the river. The fishermen were taking advantages of their habit: fishing tools and traps were placed to catch fish when their migrated back to the river. The target was the big fish – the smaller one was flow back to the river to ensure the population’s growth. Picture 3 shows a barrier which was placed at the opening of the canals. By using these obstacles, the fish-migration’s way was controlled: only a small gap left open where the fishermen could easily catch the fish. Picture 4 illustrates a trap: the fish can go inside this trap but can’t find the way out. This tool was also suitable to store the fish inside the ponds/rivers. Picture 3: Picture 4: Barrier at the opening of the canal (elotisza.hu) Trap to catch and store fish in the canal (elotisza.hu) II.3. Pond design During the planning/construction work of the fish ponds the overall goal is to develop a system that is capable of filling and draining using the natural gravitational forces of moving water. When the design is planned, it is taken into consideration what will be the function of the pond: fingerlings, marketable fish production etc. Usually fish ponds apply a minimum water depth of 1m – and 1,5m is considered to be ideal. The slope of a pond is always less than 1% and usually closer to 0.1%, especially when the pond size is getting larger. Proper soil compaction and sufficient clay content are very important to maintaining the slope of the dike during the actual operations in the years ahead.
and fishing, become useable for agriculture. As a consequence the biodiversity, soil composition and the culture/tradition was changed. Nowadays the remaining of the natural system of the river can be found in nature conservation areas, however the traditional fishing is not practiced anymore. Fishing technique: The fish doesn’t breed in the fast flowing river bed but in the warmer shallow still water. The floodplain areas were functioning during the flood as ponds where the fish could breed. When the flooding period was over they migrate back to the river. The fishermen were taking advantages of their habit: fishing tools and traps were placed to catch fish when their migrated back to the river. The target was the big fish – the smaller one was flow back to the river to ensure the population’s growth. Picture 3 shows a barrier which was placed at the opening of the canals. By using these obstacles, the fish-migration’s way was controlled: only a small gap left open where the fishermen could easily catch the fish. Picture 4 illustrates a trap: the fish can go inside this trap but can’t find the way out. This tool was also suitable to store the fish inside the ponds/rivers. Picture 3: Barrier at the opening of the canal (elotisza.hu) Picture 4: Trap to catch and store fish in the canal (elotisza.hu) II.3. Pond design During the planning/construction work of the fish ponds the overall goal is to develop a system that is capable of filling and draining using the natural gravitational forces of moving water. When the design is planned, it is taken into consideration what will be the function of the pond: fingerlings, marketable fish production etc. Usually fish ponds apply a minimum water depth of 1m – and 1,5m is considered to be ideal. The slope of a pond is always less than 1% and usually closer to 0.1%, especially when the pond size is getting larger. Proper soil compaction and sufficient clay content are very important to maintaining the slope of the dike during the actual operations in the years ahead.