The main activities of the Ajdovščina Angling Society involve the protection of living resources (especially fish), water protection, breeding of fish and fishing. We are a society with the status of the environmental conservation organization.

Range of Activities

The Ajdovščina Angling Society is active on the areas of local communities of Ajdovščina and Vipava which encompass an area of 352 sq km and have together 22,500 inhabitants which is 1.2% of the Slovenia's population.

The most important watercourses are the Vipava River and the Hubelj River. The upper Vipava Valley is intertwined with many brooks that the Ajdovščina Angling Society uses as nursery brooks

Under the mighty Nanos plateau, among the nine springs of the Vipava River (104m above sea level), the houses of the city Vipava and the numerous bridges throng together to form something like “small Venice”. Immediately upon the spring of the Vipava River numerous watercourses join the stream. Among them are the Močilnik brook, the mysterious steep mountain stream Bela, further down the Hubelj River known for its short but extremely pure watercourse, and other numerous small brooks.

The Hubelj River springs at 240m above sea level. At high water levels its picturesque waterfalls provide water for nearly the whole Vipava Valley. At the spring of the Hubelj River you can visit the lowest alpine hut above sea level in Slovenia. Right below there's the modern fish farm of the Ajdovščina Angling Society that breeds and preserves the autochthonous once endangered marble trout (Salmo trutta marmoratus). In the past, below the Hubelj River spring people built the iron foundry, the rolling mill for the copper sheet metal and also a brewery. The Lokavšček brook that meets the Hubelj River below the spring has been very muddy since 1998 when the rain started to wash away the slime from the “salty mud” landslide under the Čaven peak. The Lokavšček brook was once a watercourse full of fish, but today it is almost lifeless. The Hubelj River meets the Vipava River under the city of Ajdovščina.

The Vipava River leaves the fishing area of the Ajdovščina Angling Society at the Kasovlje dam and slowly continues its way down the Vipava Valley. At the village Miren it leaves Slovenia and flows into the emerald Soča River at the village Sovodnje in Italy on its way to the Adriatic Sea.

Relief and Geological Profile of the Area

The area of the Ajdovščina and Vipava municipalities has a very variegated relief. It spans over the central and upper part of the Vipava Valley and is surrounded from west to north by the high plateaus of Čaven, Trnovski gozd and Nanos and from the east by the Hrušica plateau. On the south, both municipalities border on the Karst by the Vipava Low Hills.

The strategically important road that leads through the valley spans from the Friuli Lowlands to the central Slovenia and further on to the Balcan. The road left a great historical mark on these places.

15 million years ago, the Vipava Valley was a shallow sea and this is reflected in the geological structure of the terrain: the prevailing stones are of the sedimentary nature, especially flysch, whereas the bottom of the valley is covered by smaller river sediments. On the hillsides of the plateaus the Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone prevails.

Climatic Conditions

The valley is opened towards west from where the influences of the Mediterranean climate are coming. The average annual temperature on this area is 12°C and the lowest average temperature of each month never falls below zero. One of the highest temperatures measured in June 2003 was 41°C.

The mild climate is often “refreshed” by the Burja (strong north-east wind) that blows on average between 45 and 90 days annually and its strong gusts reach the speeds above 150 km/h. The vegetation period is for two months longer than in other places across Slovenia. This enables the growth and cultivation of the typical Mediterranean flora.

The valley receives the greater part of its 1600 l annual rainfall in early spring and late autumn. Lately, the summer draughts are becoming longer and more frequent. In this period the majority of the brooks run dry.

The Fishing Area of the Society

The fishing area of the society encompasses the waters of the upper Vipava River and the Hubelj River. The watercourses of this area span over 29 ha of terrain. The Vipava River is fishable from its spring in Vipava to the Kasovlje dam (12 km). All the tributaries of the Vipava River (except the Hubelj River) are used as nursery brooks for breeding salmonids. The upper part of the Vipava River is populated mainly by salmonid species, whereas the lower part is populated by various fish species.

In the beginning of the 20th century, the upper part of the Vipava River was populated only by the marble trout (Salmo trutta marmoratus). The brown trout was first introduced into the Vipava River between the two world wars in 1936. Due to the constant restocking of the brown trout after the WW II the marble trout soon became an endangered species.

With the help of the society's hardworking members, leaders of the local community of that time and with the assistance of the Water Management Company Soča, a modern wastewater treatment plant was built at the end of the 20th century to treat the faecal and process water of the city of Ajdovščina and surrounding villages.

Due to wastewater treatment plants in Ajdovščina and Vipava, more environmentally conscious people and constant efforts of the Ajdovščina Angling Society, today the watercourses are cleaner and richer with indigenous species of fish and other water animals than they were a decade ago.

Fish Farming – The Society's Pride

In the last decades it happens all too frequently that in summer months the majority of nursery brooks run dry because of summer drought and unregulated regime of field irrigation. This causes a lot of damage and fish kills. In critical periods the society must catch fish from the brooks and release them into the Vipava River.

The key event for the revitalization of the salmonid ichthyofauna was the building of the fish farm by the fishermen from Ajdovščina in 1986. After many years of selection, the society got its own breeding stock of the marble trout, renewed every year by careful selection.

Every year the Ajdovščina Angling Society restocks the nursery brooks and the Vipava River with alevins (small fish with yolk sac). In this way we increase the population of the marble trout in the Vipava River. From 2000 to 2005 we restocked our rivers with substantial numbers of juvenile Adriatic grayling that was already present here many years ago. The Adriatic grayling fry were purchased at the Tolmin Angling Society that helped us with expert advice for the repopulation.

Our efforts, expert knowledge and the full protection of the marble trout carried out by the society in all this years are all a source of pride because we have succeeded in preserving one of the rarest salmonids in its original form and habitat. Our success in fish farming is closely connected with the excellent natural conditions offered by the upper part of the Hubelj River from where the fish farm gets the high-quality water for the breeding of trout. The Hubelj River has good chemical characteristics for the breeding of salmonids. The careful work of the fish farmers is the key to successful breeding of fish and an increase in the population of salmonids. Giving up the breeding of the rainbow trout was another decision that proved successful in restocking and protection of the marble trout.

Fish

The source of the Vipava River is at 104m above sea level in one of the warmest valleys in Slovenia. Despite the low sea level, the luxuriant growth on the banks prevents the overheating of the river that is in its upper part populated mainly by salmonids. Despite this, the ichthyologic structure of the upper part of the river and its tributaries is very diverse. Besides the marble trout (included in the European project Natura 2000), brown trout, crossbreeds (marble trout, brown trout) and rainbow trout, the Vipava River is populated also by a small number of Adriatic grayling the population of which is on the rise due to restocking and natural spawning in the last few years.

The warm mouths of the brooks that flow into the Vipava River enable a favourable habitat for the growth of cyprinid fry. The adult cyprinids can be found mainly in the Vipava River. Two major problems at preserving the current fish populations are the uncontrolled pumping of water for the purposes of irrigation and the pollution of the brook outfalls. The society supervises the condition of the cyprinid populations with the same care as it supervises the salmonid populations. In most cases the cyprinids are good indicators of changes in water quality and are as an integral part of the biotope equally important as the salmonids.

Among cyprinids we must mention the north-Adriatic chub, Italian barbel, brook barbel, bleak, the Italian spined loach, the Eurasian minnow, the Adriatic roach, the bullhead sculpin (cottus gobio) and the tench. Besides the marble trout the majority of the cyprinids are included in the NATURA 2000, an Act that dictates the conservation of the natural habitats populated by the above mentioned fish species. We are proud of the fact that the Vipava River is one of the watercourses that is included in this European nature preservation act and therefore protected.

We constantly restock the carp in the Dobravska Krnica Lake and in this way provide a rich fishing ground for this species. Two decades ago we put in the Prussian carp, the only allochthonous species that ended in our fishing area by our fault. The Danubian nase that was put into the streams 25 years ago by the neighbouring Renče Angling Society sets out every year to make its “spawning tour” in our fishing area. Our opinion is that it disturbs the indigenous species of fish. In any case, the rainbow trout, the Prussian carp and the Danubian nase have a negative effect on the ichthyologic condition of indigenous populations of fish in the fishing area of our angling society.

In the last decade we are witnessing a decrease in the populations of eel while the populations of the Lombardy lamprey, bullhead sculpin, Italian barbel and Italian freshwater goby are on the slow increase.

For the last two decades, the Ajdovščina Angling Society has been giving special attention to the breeding and restocking of the watercourses with the marble trout and preserving its originality. The success is visible as the population of the marble trout is on the increase. We have provided good living conditions for the breeding stock which is the pride of our fish farmers and experts. Every year it provides sufficient quantities of fry for restocking and repopulation.

50 Years of the Society's Activity

The number of the society's members has always been from 80 to 130. From 1980 to 1985 when the regulation of the Vipava River and the commassation of the upper part of the Vipava Valley was carried out, the water quality reached the lower critical limit (the Vipava River was in the 3/4 quality class). Consequently the number of members drastically decreased. Through these years the society went through a crisis – in the 1990s, the fishing area of the Vipava River and lower part of the Hubelj River was biologically dead. In the last few years the number of the society's members is slowly increasing. We are glad to see that young people are joining in and slowly taking the responsibilities for different activities.

The future plans of our society are clear. The guidelines that were adopted on the annual convention in 2004 are set. The main stress will be given to the preservation of the indigenous fish species, taking part in the activities that have been brought about by the project NATURA 2000, the care for natural environment, the recognition of the society and taking care of the good relations between members, with the active angling societies and the ZRD of the Primorsko region (Association of Angling Societies of the Primorsko region). The winds of change are blowing through the entire society. We have new challenges that will unite all angling societies with the goal of being the backbone of ecology and water protection.

The society's members are well aware that the only way of being successful at managing the watercourses and aquatic animals and plants is to join our powers and knowledge. RZS (Slovene Fishing Association) and other competent national authorities will also have to play their active role in taking care of fishing in Slovenia. Investing in the activities of the angling societies means investing in ecology and preserving the natural resources of which water and aquatic life are among the most important ones.

The first steps have been made. We have some regulations, directives and standards of the European Union that bind us to the realization of the project Natura 2000. We have joined the family of the European Union that stresses the necessity of preserving the natural environment, especially waters to which the fishermen are inseparably linked.

The waters of our brooks, rivers and lakes are undoubtedly strategic goods that know no limits and have to be a matter of uniting people and not dividing them. A great contribution to this are not only the projects of the fishermen but also of a wider community that have to be accomplished by humankind if we want to preserve the ecological balance that enables life on the planet Earth.

Secretary	President
Ivo Krušec	David Marc