Template:Did you know nominations/Fishing industry in Switzerland

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:30, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

Fishing industry in Switzerland

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Professional fisherman in Lake Zürich

... that Swiss fishermen (pictured) believe that their ranks are dwindling because the country's environmental laws have left its lakes too clean to support adequate fish populations?

Source: ""Net tightens on fishing profession" "Champier is one of Switzerland’s 284 professional fishermen – only a third as many as there were in 1970 - and one of only 181 who still exercise the activity full time. The decline is not surprising as some freshwater fish are no longer as abundant as they once were.

According to Maxime Prevedello, spokesman for the Swiss Fishing Federation (SFV) in French-speaking Switzerland, fish have become increasingly scarce in many lakes because they have less to feed on. The population boom and economic growth that followed the Second World War led to large quantities of phosphorous – notably from detergents, fertilisers and human waste - making their way into Swiss waters. High concentrations of phosphorus trigger the excessive growth of algae, which form floating mats on the water’s surface. When the algae die, they sink, decay and reduce oxygen levels in the water, killing fish and other organisms.

But phosphorus also favours the production of phytoplankton, providing abundant food for fish such as perch, which are more resistant than many other species. The installation of numerous wastewater treatment systems in the 1970s, a ban on washing powder containing phosphates in 1986 and the introduction of more environment-friendly agricultural methods in the 1990s drastically reduced the phosphorus level in most Swiss waters. Swiss, Austrian and German fishermen on Lake Constance were dismayed to see their catches shrink by 16% between 2012 and 2013. The concentration of phosphorus in 2013 was only seven micrograms per litre, a huge drop from the peak of 86 micrograms in 1986.

The fishermen, supported by the SFV, proposed that the level of phosphorus in Lake Constance be increased via the wastewater treatment systems. Their proposal was rejected by the Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU)." Swissinfo.ch; August 25, 2015. "'Too clean' Swiss lakes threaten fish stocks" "Erich Staub, head of the fisheries division at the agency, told swissinfo the decrease in fish had been caused by a lower concentration of phosphates in lakes. The scarcity of the substance, which stimulates the growth of algae, led to the reduction of food for whitefish.

Switzerland's tighter pollution control laws, which have been applied since the 1970s, are said to be the main reason for change.

"Fifteen years ago, there was a reduction of phosphates in household washing powders, and this brought down the concentration of the chemical in lakes," Staub said. "This reduction in nutrients also caused a reduction of the fish population."; , Swissinfo; August 27, 2001

- ALT1:... that, yes, there actually is a fishing industry in Switzerland (boat, pictured)? The sort of jokey hook we occasionally do; the whole article is the source
- ALT2:... that perch became a major product of the Swiss fishing industry in the mid-20th century after a fisherman found that an industrial potato peeler made two perfect filets from each fish? Although always fished, it did not become really significant until the 1950s with the introduction of artificial fibre nets. The perch is a scaly and decidedly bony fish and it was also at this time that an enterprising fisherman decided to put his catch into an industrial potato peeler which rapidly and efficiently removed all the scales. Two boneless fillets were then removed from the descaled fish and filets de perche were introduced to the region" from "Fishing Industry of the Suisse Romande", A. Blake, in Fish: Food From the Sea, Oxford Symposium, 1998
- ALT3: ... that the French-speaking population consumes a share of Switzerland's fish catch triple that of its total portion of the population? "French-speaking Swiss account only for 20% of the national population but represent 60% of the national fish and seafood consumption", Market Analyses, 2014–2018, European Market Observatory for Fish and Aquaculture Products; December 2019.

Reviewed: Olympic Tower
Comment: I am not quite done with this and can add some more hooks later. But I would like to get this on the Main Page for August 1, Swiss National Day.

Moved to mainspace by Daniel Case (talk). Self-nominated at 05:21, 25 July 2021 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: ALT1 is too jokey for something not on April Fool's Day. ALT0 or ALT2 are preferred. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 22:00, 26 July 2021 (UTC)