Severe summer drought endangers fish stocks across Central and Eastern Europe

Across the Balkans and Central Europe, an unprecedented summer drought is shrinking waterways and heating shallow pools, leaving juvenile fish vulnerable to rapid mortality, as observed by a Serbian fisherman in a Danube side channel. Hungary’s meteorological service says 99 % of the country is under severe or extreme drought, with the Agriculture and Food Economy Ministry estimating 1,588 hectares of ponds have dried, killing nearly 280 metric tons of fish and costing about 1.3 billion forints.

Romanian carp growers, still recovering from 2023 and 2024 dry spells, blame water-use policies that favored irrigation over aquaculture. Czech fish farms are cutting feed, aerating ponds and, in some cases, draining them, while officials hope rainfall will provide relief. In Bosnia, trout farms are forced to lower output and inject liquid oxygen, and in Slovenia emergency crews have pumped 8 million liters into Lake Pristava to prevent oxygen depletion, though they fear it may be insufficient.