Plunging trout population raises doubts about clean-up efforts on one of Europe’s most beautiful lakes. By Greg Spencer Photo: PAVEL ANTONOV NET LOSSES: Biologist Dimitrije Taleski says the Ohrid Trout Hatchery has a capacity of 3 to 5 million eggs a year, but has recently been hatching just 1 million annually. The population of the Lake Ohrid trout is in a freefall, and if nothing is done to stop it, so too could go international help to save one of the world's most ecologically valuable lakes. This black spotted trout -- one of the lake's several relic species that exist nowhere else on earth except as fossils -- is considered an indicator of Ohrid's environmental health. The fish's plight has raised concerns that the lake could lose its status as one of the planet's few natural sites with World Heritage status. Though the trout tops the menu at virtually every restaurant on the shoreline, the Hydrobiological Institute of Lake Ohrid has floated the extreme suggestion of a five-year moratorium on commercial fishing, as well as the periodic relocation of tourists away from active spawning areas. The proposal has won high-level endorsements from the ministries of environment in both Macedonia and Albania, the counties who share the lakes' shoreline, as well as local support by lakeside municipalities. But if promises aren't followed by action, they may face censure by UNESCO, the guardian body of World Heritage sites. UNESCO's Macedonia office in Skopje has just begun a review of the lake's health, one to be performed by an international team of scientists from both Albania and Macedonia as well as countries outside the region. Lidija Topuzoska, UNESCO's Macedonia representative, wouldn't say whether the review was initiated by any specific concern or complaint -- as such reviews often are. But she noted that the two principle indicators that the research team will examine are the pollution levels of the water -- whose measurements to date have been mainly localised -- as well as the population levels of the trout. The lake's World Heritage designation, granted by UNESCO in 1980, has made it a target for lavish international funding, including USD 4 million for a World Bank conservation project that began in 1998 (see "Cross-border cooperation for a lake," December 2002 issue of the Bulletin). That favored status could be in jeopardy if UNESCO decides to put the lake on an endangered list -- a sign to the world that Macedonia and Albania have not been fulfilling their roles as local stewards. To the casual observer, the distress calls might seem alarmist. The lake retains its rare, crystal-clear character, a result of its formation by earthquakes pre-dating the Ice Age, and the fact that much of its source water comes from underground springs. Scientists call the lake "oligotrophic," meaning it is remarkably free of phosphates and other organic pollution that give rise to the kind of algae and micro-organisms that cloud up more "eutrophic" waters. On Lake Ohrid, you can see to 20 metre depths. The lake's surroundings impress, as well. A cradle of stony mountains with thickly forested foothills encircles the water, creating a sense of isolation. Its 164 kilometres of shoreline are home to just 200, 000 people, most of them clustered in three small towns and the rest in sparsely scattered villages where cows, chickens and the occasional black-shawled babushka constitute main street traffic. Despite this enduring natural beauty, environmental pressures have been mounting over the years. Since the Second World War, the lake's human population has doubled, yet the majority of households still dump their wastewater, untreated, directly into the lake. Lake Ohrid lacks any properly lined waste dump and despite recent discussion on the topic, there is still no watershed management which might curb inflows of fertilisers and other chemicals from the heavily cultivated countryside. A 2003 state of the environment report estimates that phosphorous levels in the water are probably three to four times their pre-World War II levels. Half the catch Scientists believe this is one reason for the disappearance of the trout. According to the environmental report, in 2001 fishermen caught just 200, 000 kilogrammes of trout, less than half the catch of 1988. The governments of both shores say they'll back the scientists. On the Macedonian side, Deputy Minister of Environment Dzagoliub Matevski stated, "We will support any measures deemed scientifically necessary for the protection of the lake and its endemic species", including a moratorium on fishing. His Albanian counterpart, Besnik Paraj, agreed, saying "A moratorium is a step that must be taken." Paraj said he was "very upset" with illegal fishing on the Albanian side of the lake, but this is an old issue which has been repeatedly condemned but rarely policed. Progress is being made, though it remains to be seen whether it is fast enough for the fish. A EUR 20 million, German-funded sewerage project is due for groundbreaking in August in the Albanian town of Pogarec, currently the lake's largest, single source of pollution. A similar project that began on the Macedonian side in the mid-'80s has made the once filthy water in Ohrid Bay safe for drinking again. But conservation work on Lake Ohrid is notoriously slow. The Macedonian sewerage project, for one, has been underway for 18 years and is still just 65 percent complete. And the Lake Ohrid Conservation Project, a threeyear initiative that was supposed to wrap up in 2001, is still dragging on despite having realised just one of its four main objectives. REC Macedonia's Katarina Stojkovska, who oversaw the single completed element of the project, a public awareness campaign, believes things will get done -- one day. "You know the people of this region," she said. "There are always delays."

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