After six months, children and anglers from the Czech Anglers Union again got together at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Most to release fish into the River Bílina. This spring, 400 kg of fish were introduced to their new home in the Bílina. The ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation, which organises and provides funding for fish stocking, helps maintain the river’s water ecosystem by releasing fish twice a year. It regularly invites primary school children to this event to raise their awareness about the life of fish in Czech watercourses.
“We organise the fish-stocking event twice a year, thus supporting the variety of life under the surface of the River Bílina. In addition, releasing such a massive number of fish is a fantastic experience for children from the local primary school. With the assistance of anglers, they can touch the fish and release them into the river on their own,” Lucie Pražáková, director of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation, commented on this year’s release.
Anglers stock the river with traditional fish species, including tench, bream, roach, and rudd. The Czech Anglers Union determines the composition and proportion of individual fish species based on the previous monitoring of their numerosity in the River Bílina. During the release, the anglers inform the children about the underwater life in Czech rivers and curiosities from the life of the fish. Furthermore, the Environmental Centre in Most prepares various instructional sites and games for them.
“We have an array of side events for the children for each fish stocking. First, anglers tell children many curiosities from the water world, which they apply when fulfilling tasks at the sites positioned along the river. Children always appreciate creative tasks, whose results they can take away home,” adds Martina Černá, head of the Environmental Centre in Most.
With this traditional event organised since 2010, ORLEN Unipetrol helps boost fish populations in the River Bílina and spread awareness about nature conservation among children from primary schools and children’s homes. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group has already invested over CZK 1 million in stocking Bílina’s waters with about 11 tonnes of original fish species.
About the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation
The ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation launched its activities in 2017. Its primary mission is to support education and popularise science, primarily natural sciences and technical disciplines, as well as corporate social responsibility, emphasising local communities and the environment. The Foundation has long been engaged in supporting schools, teachers, and students with grant programmes. The educational project, ‚Plastík a jeho kouzelný kufřík‘, provides schoolchildren from the first to the fifth grade with an excursion into the world of chemistry through entertaining experiments. Educational support and the associated Foundation’s activities gave rise to many educational materials and outputs in the form of tutorials available at
www.nouonline.cz. Beginning in 2024, the Foundation is also committed to corporate social responsibility related to the environment, support of local communities, and volunteering. Such activities include championing volunteer and community projects, fundraising, fish releases into rivers, nesting of endangered peregrine falcons, and beekeeping. The Foundation cooperates with many non-profit organisations on a long-term basis but also reacts to current events in society and emergencies. More information about the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation’s mission and other activities is available at
www.nadaceorlenunipetrol.cz.
Contact:
Lucie Pražáková, director of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation
Telephone: +420 736 506 939