The picture shows a renaturalised site at the fish migration aid in Altenwörth. At this point in the blue-green river there is a collection of stones with plants, just like those found in nature. To the left and right of the banks you can see gravel and green areas with shrubs and trees. The blue sky shines in the upper part of the picture.

LIFE Blue Belt Danube Inn:
Renaturalisation of the Danube
and Inn

Consistently in harmony with nature

The Blue Belt Danube Inn LIFE project aims to connect the valuable habitats along the Inn and Danube and improve habitat conditions within the Natura 2000 sites. The project is intended to complement completed and ongoing LIFE projects on the Danube and Inn.

Project description

The LIFE Blue Belt Danube Inn project aims to preserve and improve endangered river fish on the Danube and Inn. The Jochenstein (Danube), Schärding-Neuhaus (Inn) and Passau-Ingling (Inn) power plants will be equipped with fish migration aids. The Austrian Danube power plants Aschach and Ybbs-Persenbeug will also become barrier-free. Ultimately, the Danube is to become fish passable by 2027. The riverbank structures on the Danube and Inn will create habitats and protected spawning zones for Danube fish.

With an investment totalling 60 million euros, comprehensive measures in the form of fish migration aids and bank restructuring are intended to bring about ecological improvements. This is intended to tie in with the parallel LIFE Riverscape Lower Inn project. The focus is on freshwater fish, which, as medium-distance migrants, require connected habitats on the Danube and Inn.

Kick-off
The aerial photo shows the section of the Inn before the Ering-Frauenstein Inn power station. The fish migration aid can be seen on the left-hand side of the image next to a section of forest. In the centre of the image is the renaturalised section of the Inn, which shines in a dark blue. The renaturalised area is fully overgrown with trees and bushes. In the background of the picture you can see the further course of the Inn as well as the landscape with villages and fields in various colours.

Our project partners

partner Poster

The European Commission's LIFE programme is the central funding instrument for environmental protection and biodiversity conservation measures. VERBUND has already been able to implement large-scale projects and pioneering measures in the vicinity of power plants in numerous partner projects with support from the LIFE fund.

partner Poster

Measures will be implemented on Austrian and Bavarian stretches of the Danube and Inn rivers. The Natura 2000 sites Upper Danube and Aschach Valley, Danube from Kachlet to Jochenstein with Inn and Ilz estuary, Salzach and Lower Inn, Lower Austrian Alpine Foreland Rivers, Strudengau - Nibelungengau and the Eferding Basin will benefit directly or indirectly from the measures.

partner Poster

VERBUND-Website

Project overview

VERBUND, the leading hydropower producer in Central Europe, is connecting the last previously interrupted habitats along the Danube and Grenz-Inn rivers with a huge programme. Following on from previous projects, the Schärding-Neuhaus, Jochenstein, Aschach and Ybbs-Persenbeug power plants will be equipped with fish migration aids and the banks will be extensively renaturalised. This will make the Danube and Inn passable for fish from Romania to Rosenheim.

This is a map of the Danube / Inn in Upper Austria for the LIFE Blue Belt Danube Inn sites. The Inn is shown on the left, flowing to the right. It first flows through the Schärding-Neuhaus power plant and then the Passau-Ingling power plant. The Inn then flows into the Danube, which flows further to the left on the map, passing the Jochenstein power station, Aschach and Ybbs-Persenbeug. Germany is shown at the top and the Czech Republic and Lower Austria to the right. Upper Austria is located below.

Goals & measures

The ecological objective of the project is to improve the conservation status of endangered river fish, in particular medium-distance migrants, at local and regional level. The networking of previously isolated habitats along the Danube and the upgrading of existing riverbanks should promote the diversity and number of all species.

Valuable habitats and existing renaturalisation projects will be networked through LIFE Blue Belt Danube Inn. The measures close gaps along the Danube and Inn and make the waters from Romania to Rosenheim passable for fish. In addition, around 11 hectares of shallow gravel banks are being created along the riverbanks. This will create new spawning habitat and protected habitat for juvenile fish. Gravel banks also provide breeding opportunities for birds such as sandpipers and little ringed plovers.

Open measures
The aerial photograph shows the completion of the fish migration aid in Altenwörth. While the Danube flows towards the power plant in the right-hand picture, the calm course of the river with renaturalised banks can be seen in the centre of the picture. On the left edge of the picture you can see forests in light shades of green. There are also some trees and green areas between the main arm of the Danube and the fish migration aid. The Altenwörth power station and the landscape can be seen in the background of the picture.

Conservation of endangered river fish

The LIFE Blue Belt Danube Inn project aims to conserve and improve endangered river fish on the Danube and Inn. The focus is on freshwater fish which, as medium-distance migrants, require connected habitats on the Danube and Inn. Examples include grayling, nase, barbel and sterlet. The barrier-free nature of the power plants allows regional populations to be connected.

Fish passes
A barb swims underwater in a natural freshwater habitat. The murky greenish water surrounds the fish, which is placed in the centre of the picture, and visible stones at the bottom of the water add to the feeling of depth. The barb is in motion and its fins are clearly visible.

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