Free movement for fishy migrants within Europe is being blocked by France, as salmon trying to get back to Switzerland find themselves stopped near the border by French power plants. Basel-born salmon migrate down the River Rhine and then try to swim back upstream to spawn – more or less where they hatched. However, owing to the lack of fish ladders on the Upper Rhine they can’t get past three hydroelectric stations in Strasbourg on the French-German border. The Swiss government said in response to a parliamentary question on Thursday it would continue to work to remove the obstacles. Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have built fish passes around all their power plants to help migrating fish swim upstream, but it is still impossible to cross three French power plants, said parliamentarian Roberto Zanetti. Switzerland had proposed “several innovative proposals” to France, the government said, and intended to work towards a concrete timetable within the framework of ...
