Primary school students in the Most area can enjoy their favourite fish release into the River Bílina even during the coronavirus lockdown. Unipetrol, the Czech Fishing Union and Most Environmental Centre have prepared a live online broadcast for them with the guidance of an experienced fisher. Children can complete a knowledge quiz after the release. The live broadcast takes place on Friday, 15 May 2020, from 10 am. It will be available on Unipetrol’s YouTube and Facebook channels and on Unipetrol Foundation Facebook profile. Anybody in any location can thus join the broadcast. The organisers will release up to 400 kg of fish in the River Bílina near the relocated Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in Most. This initiative has helped to plant more than eight tonnes of fish since the start of the cooperation in 2010.
“We plant the fish together with the Czech Fishing Union twice a year to revitalise and restore life in the River Bílina and raise the children’s interest in the environment. The Most Environmental Centre joined this initiative two years ago,” Pavel Sláma, director of the EKO Unit of the Unipetrol Group, comments on the project. He adds that the release takes place without the presence of children for the first time this year. “They get some compensation in the interesting format that we have prepared for them. We usually had two classes there, and now we can jazz the home schooling for an unlimited number of small viewers.”
The Most Environmental Centre has addressed primary schools in the districts of Most and Litvínov. They can include the live broadcast about fish and the River Bílina in their primary school teaching. “The broadcast is expected to last 30 minutes, and we will prepare a knowledge quiz in the end,” says Martina Černá, head of the Most Environmental Centre. Children can see fish such as carps, breams, roaches, and pikes. “This is not an easy time, of course, also given the current measures. Yet, we fishermen need to care for our fish and fisheries actively. We will release 300 kg of white fish in the River Bílina, mostly the common roach. But we have other species, too, such as pikes, tenches, and carps, which are probably known by most children. The river used to be viewed as a dead flow in the past, also due to its heavy pollution. It is therefore delightful that we have managed to return life to it. We can say that the Bílina is living now,” says Jan Skalský, a spokesman for the Czech Fishing Union responsible for the north Bohemian unit.
The River Bílina rises in the Loučny highlands of the Ore Mountains and empties into the Elbe in Ústí nad Labem. It is 83.6 km long. The river flows across the most industrial part of the Czech Republic. Nonetheless, the quality of its water has substantially improved in the past 30 years. Unipetrol also plants fish in the Elbe near the Spolana Neratovice production plant. Besides, it also cooperates with the ALKA Wildlife association on a project of peregrine falcon nesting. This partnership has helped to expand the peregrine falcon population with 28 birds since 2010.
The Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude-oil processing and on the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these areas, it belongs among the important players on the Czech and Central European market. The Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo with its Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolín, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. Unipetrol also includes a network of Benzina filling stations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 418 filling stations, Benzina is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. Unipetrol is one of the largest companies in terms of turnover in the Czech Republic. It earned over CZK 130 billion last year and employs more than 4,800 persons. In addition to its business development, Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays an equal amount of attention to initiatives which focus on the cultivation and support of sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment. In 2005, Unipetrol became a member of the PKN Orlen Group, the largest crude-oil processor in Central Europe.
For more information, please visit the “Responsible Company” section at www.unipetrol.cz.
Contact information: Pavel Kaidl, spokesman, telephone: +420 225 001 407, +420 736 502 520, e-mail:
pavel.kaidl@unipetrol.cz