Dutch anglers save fish as Rhine drought bites

Angler Mark Kouwenhoven grins as he wades into what's left of a dried-up Dutch lake where his colleagues are throwing slime-coated fish into buckets.

It's not the kind of catch they're used to but that's because this time they're helping the government to save the fish from the drought gripping Europe.

Each fish will be moved nearby to the River IJssel, a Dutch branch of the drought-hit River Rhine that until recently had fed the lake with fresh water.

"It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it," says the 32-year-old Kouwenhoven, a member of the Eastern Netherlands Sportfishing Association.

"We're fishermen, we care for the fish, we don't want them to die. We love fish!" he adds, dressed in a pair of long waterproof waders.

The Netherlands is famed as a "land of water" where canals and dikes protect against rising seas, but the country declared an official water shortage earlier this month. One key factor in the drought has been the low water levels in the Rhine.

Europe's mighty river rises in Switzerland and flows through several countries including France and Germany, before flowing into the sea in a huge delta in the Netherlands.

Dry, parched banks are now exposed to the air along the Dutch distributaries of the Rhine such as the Waal, the Nederrijn and the IJssel.

The water in the small lake near the town of Giesbeek used to be about a meter higher, with fish swimming in from a channel from the IJssel, but is now down to about 10 centimeters, anglers say.

A beaver that used to live there has left, abandoning its dam.

Volunteers from a number of angling clubs have now carried out several missions to help the stranded fish, working alongside the Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch water management...