Grayling

Status & fishing opportunities
Grayling is a highly valued freshwater species for recreational anglers, closely associated with clean, cold and well-structured rivers. While still present in parts of its natural range, many grayling populations face increasing pressure from habitat degradation, altered river flows, rising water temperatures and predation, leading to reduced or highly localised fishing opportunities.

EAA advocacy
The EAA supports management approaches that prioritise habitat protection and restoration as the foundation for healthy grayling populations. EAA advocates for science-based regulations, adaptive local management and conservation measures that recognise grayling as a sensitive indicator species for river ecosystem health.

Key policy focus
EAA calls for improved river connectivity, water quality protection and climate-resilient river management, closely aligned with broader freshwater restoration policies. The objective is to maintain and rebuild self-sustaining grayling populations, ensuring long-term recreational fishing opportunities and healthy river ecosystems across Europe.

Related EAA Positions, Resolutions & Updates

For further reading, see the full Positions & Resolutions and News overview.

Positions & Resolutions

2022

Nature Restoration Law (NRL)

The European Anglers Alliance (EAA) is part of the Living Rivers Europe (LRE) coalition, together with leading European environmental organisations. Through this coalition, EAA advocates for ambitious, legally binding river restoration targets that address the severe degradation of Europe’s freshwater ecosystems.

Freshwater habitats are among the most damaged ecosystems in Europe, with widespread river fragmentation and declining biodiversity undermining water quality, climate resilience and fish populations. The proposed EU Nature Restoration Law represents a critical opportunity to reverse these trends by restoring river connectivity and scaling up barrier removal. However, given the scale and urgency of freshwater degradation, stronger targets, clearer priorities and adequate funding are needed to ensure meaningful and timely restoration outcomes.

This is a joint statement by the Living Rivers Europe (LRE) coalition, bringing together the European Anglers Alliance (EAA), the European Environmental Bureau, the European Rivers Network, The Nature Conservancy, Wetlands International and WWF.

Together, we urge the European Parliament and the Council, acting as co-legislators on the EU Nature Restoration Law, to:

The full position paper, including notes and references, can be downloaded below.

Raise the barrier removal target to 15% of EU river length (178,000 km) restored to a free-flowing state by 2030 and make it legally binding;
Remove the highlight given to exemptions to the Water Framework Directive and TEN-T regulation to ensure proper implementation.
Ask Member States to prioritise barrier removals according to the ecological potential of the removal, in particular the connectivity between marine and freshwater ecosystems.
Ask Member States to include in their national restoration plans a description of the simplification of procedures and skill-building measures necessary to enable river restoration projects to be carried out efficiently and with the necessary public engagement.
Increase the intermediary percentage targets laid out in Article 4 for the restoration and re-establishment of areas and the restoration of habitats of species, and shorten the timeline for reaching 100%, as this article also covers some freshwater ecosystems and those restoration actions would also complement the action on river connectivity.
Call on the European institutions to expand the EU financing support available for free-flowing river restoration in addition to the sources identified in the EU Guidance on barrier removal for river restoration, for example, through the establishment of dedicated funding for nature restoration, pursuant to the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework.

Downloads:

EAA_FINAL-LRE-briefing-freshwater-NRL.pdf

2022

Hydropower: REPower EU

The European Anglers Alliance (EAA) supports the urgent acceleration of renewable energy deployment under the EU’s REPowerEU agenda to strengthen energy security and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. However, EAA strongly cautions against treating hydropower as a priority solution within this framework. Further expansion or refurbishment of hydropower risks undermining EU water, biodiversity and nature restoration objectives, while delivering limited and increasingly unreliable energy benefits under climate change conditions.

Hydropower is already one of the main drivers of river fragmentation and biodiversity loss in Europe. A renewed hydropower push would contradict the Water Framework Directive, the Birds and Habitats Directives, and the EU’s commitment to restoring free-flowing rivers. Climate-neutral energy pathways increasingly show that Europe can meet its targets without further hydropower expansion, while avoiding irreversible damage to freshwater ecosystems.

Find the key points of the EAA position
The full position paper, including notes and references, can be downloaded below.

Exclude new or revamped hydropower projects from the ‘go-to areas’ and streamlined permitting under the amended Renewable Energy Directive
Ensure that ‘go-to areas’ for other technologies exclude migratory corridors for freshwater and diadromous fish and, unless the renewable energy technology to be deployed is compatible with the planned nature protection and restoration, areas foreseen for nature restoration under the proposed Nature Restoration Law including free-flowing rivers;
Delete the general presumption of overriding public interest for all renewable energy projects, as, in the case of hydropower, this goes against the existing case law on the provisions of the Water Framework Directive and the Birds and Habitats Directives.
As a consequence, any amendments to the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation to integrate dedicated REPowerEU chapters in Member States’ existing recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) should not prioritise any further investments in new or in revamped hydropower projects.

Downloads: