Presentation of the Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Associations

The Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Associations currently operates as a non-profit NGO in 44 Vas and 6 Zala fishing waters in the form of a non-governmental organization on a water area of 1,397.19 ha.

In the year 2022, after the all-time record number of people (12,002 people), in the year 2023, 11,570 adult and child anglers exchanged valid fishing licenses in our community. Despite the decrease, it is a great pleasure for us that, out of this number of members, the number of our children who exchanged state tickets was 1,765.

In 2023, the exchange of annual regional tickets decreased to a small extent, but even so, a total of 3,212 adults found the opportunity to relax in the form of an annual regional ticket on the banks of the Vasi waters. In terms of child anglers, in addition to the many other technical opportunities and programs, it is a gratifying fact that 733 young people still chose the Vasu waters as their fishing spot

In addition to creating the conditions for sport fishing, nature conservation, the protection of fish and their habitat, and youth education are the main focus of the organization's operation. The organization carries out its advocacy activities as a member of the Hungarian National Fishing Association.

Taking family members and relatives into account, our Association has in mind the interests of more than 40,000 nature-loving residents of Vas and Zala counties.

In the beginning, the fishing associations belonged to the Hungarian National Fishing Association, founded in 1946. However, by the end of the 1950s, the number of fishing associations and the number of members increased several times, which the Budapest-based association could no longer handle. Territorial associations were formed one after the other, including MOHOSZ. Rába's Rural Administrative Committee, which, in addition to our county, also included associations from Győr, Veszprém and Zala. THE MOSS. József Németh was the first chairman of the Rába Rural Administrative Committee, and Dr. Andor Miklós held the position.

In 1979, due to the continued increase in the number of fishermen, Administrative Committees were established in all counties, modeled after the county system, which are the MOHOSZ. they functioned as the County Administrative Committee. This is how MOHOSZ was founded. The Administrative Committee of Vas county, which included only the fishing associations within the county. The Chairman of the Administrative Committee was Alajos Kiss, then Dr. József Kovacsics. After the change of regime, the general assembly of the national association did not consider it good that management from above determines the fishing movement, therefore they thought that bottom-up construction would be more appropriate. In connection with this, the entire fishing association was fundamentally reorganized, and from May 13, 1993, it continued to function as an association of associations. This meant that the county associations established the county associations, and the delegates of the county territorial associations established the MOHOSZ.

József Horváth was the president of the Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Associations, founded in 1993, then István Csiszár held the position of president from 1998 to 2013. Miklós Seregi currently leads the Association until 2028. Norbert Puskás has held the post of executive chairman since July 2011.

Our association performs and provides environmental protection, fish protection and fish management tasks in the areas of state-owned lakes and rivers under its management. By nature protection, the Association means not only the protection of natural values declared as protected, but its activities also extend to the preservation of the natural environment of non-protected species and areas, as well as the reduction of invasive species.

With the support of the European Union, in recent years, in order to revive natural waters, he implemented renaturation and revitalization projects on several rivers with the support of the authorities. (Ex.: Pinka stream, Gyöngyös stream, Csörnöc-Herpenyő).

Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Associations 2014-2020. In accordance with the Water Framework Directive of the European Union, in order to maintain the good condition of surface waters - with the involvement of professional partners - it intends to continue the natural water rehabilitations started in recent years. In addition to the protection of fish habitat and spawning grounds in natural water areas, it is important to develop and renew the welfare infrastructure of existing fishing ponds. Nowadays, the expectations and needs of the residents living around the lakes and the fishermen and tourists (cyclists, nature photographers, hikers, etc.) who regularly visit them have changed significantly.

Thanks to the increase in the price of regional fishing tickets and the slightly decreasing fish prices for the second half of 2023, as well as the fishing subsidies provided by MOHOSZ and its member associations, we managed to buy native fish in our waters for nearly HUF 135 million, which compared to HUF 96 million in 2022. We would also like to thank the Hungarian National Fishing Association and the associations that participated in the support.

From our point of view, this year's fishing is an outstanding result in light of the previously described decreasing number of fishermen and territorial ticket changes, which can also be seen in the fact that in several cases we managed to significantly exceed the fish management plan for carp and whitefish in our water areas of significant fishing interest. 57,991 kg of carp and 34,600 kg of white fish entered the waters. This year, we also managed to increase the stocking quantities of predatory fish from previous years, despite the extremely high fish prices (net 5000-6500 HUF/kg): 1000 kg of catchable-sized pike, 882 kg of two-year-old perch, 150 kg of two-year-old rainbow trout and 7000 pre-raised brown trout , 12,500 pre-raised baleen, 5,000 pre-raised chub and 20,000 pike found a new home in Vasi waters.

Our association performed the following tasks in the previous years:

On several occasions, central education and a professional day were held on fishing and fish management laws and regulations.
In July, we organized the Pinka Valley Fish Day event. As part of the fish day, there were traditional fishing competitions, a fish cooking competition, a children's fishing competition, fishing demonstrations, as well as numerous regional cultural programs. The estimated number of participants at the event: 1000-1200 people.

15-20 times a year, he organized fishing competitions, youth camps, and children's competitions for the population of the entire county, thus expanding the program offer of the settlements. We organized the Vasi Vizeken Primary School Fishing Competition for the eleventh time in a nationally unique way. In recent years, an average of 15-20 teams competed in the multi-round competition. We consider it an important result that more than 2,500 children have been introduced to fishing, the wildlife of the Vas County fishing waters and the protection of their environment through the series of competitions.
In the past years, the renewal of the fish protection system has also begun, in accordance with the legislative changes, as a result of which there have been a significant number of prosecutions for illegal fishing or fishing violations. We took care of providing the 38 members of our association with new documents. Our 7 professional fisheries guards successfully participated in the training and exams required for the performance of law enforcement duties, thus successfully exceeding the legal requirements regarding the number of fisheries guards. In the past period, together with our member associations, we also managed to purchase three Suzuki Vitara fishing guard all-terrain vehicles. Currently, 4 service all-terrain vehicles, two boats + boat motors and two large trailers are available to perform fish guarding tasks.
We prepared and won several successful tenders, which were duly implemented >>>

On April 26, 2016, our association submitted a grant application for the tourism development tender of the Regional Development Operative Program entitled "Fishing tourism developments in Vasi Vizeken", the results of which were announced just before Christmas 2016. To our great delight, under the Association's imaginary Christmas tree, with the support of the Hungarian Government and the European Union, was a notification of the approval of a grant of HUF 109,999,914, which application is currently being implemented.

In accordance with the Vas County Spatial Development Strategy, within the framework of our TOP tender project, the Magyarszecsődi Lake, the Gencsapát Gravel Mine Lake, the Pinka Backwater in Vaskeresztes and the Vaskeresztes Fishing Tourism Center, the Gersekarát Sárvíz Lake, the Püspökmolnár Gravel Mine Lake, the Csepregi Lake , the Pinkamindszent mining lake and the tourist infrastructure development of the Mersevát lake were realized in 2017-2018. Within the framework of our project, in addition to the listed fishing waters, maintenance of roads, parking lots, culverts, and works of art, as well as benches, resting places, fishing spots with limited mobility, camp toilets, event spaces, bacon grills, information boards and other welfare improvements took place. In total, 259 outdoor elements were installed, and thanks to the landscaping of the lakes, thousands of square meters of fishing spots close to nature and shorelines will be renovated.

The further development of our existing fishing waters is also a priority for us, and in the realization of this goal, the Vas County Municipality has been our priority partner for many years within the framework of the Territorial and Settlement Development Operative Program. TOP-1.2.1-15-VS1-2019-00009. Our application No. "Fishing tourism developments in Vas County" received a gross grant of HUF 136 million at the end of 2020, in which the implementation of the planned developments began in the spring of 2021. the surroundings of the Celldömölki lake were renewed. In order to develop fishing tourism on the shores, the roads, parking lots, culverts, and walkways were maintained, as well as the placement of benches, rest areas, and information boards. Based on the project plans, a total of 162 outdoor elements were placed on the shores of the lakes and approx. 7,000 square meters of coastal area has been renovated.We are in the final stage of the project, the final handover of the improvements took place in the spring of 2022.

In addition to the improvements listed above, we also renovated the accommodations in our 17-year-old Fishing Tourist Center in Vaskeresztes together with the company that operates Alpesi Fogadó with the accommodation development support of the Kisfaludy tender. Through the complex performance of our association's tasks and its fifteen years of rural development experience, it was given the opportunity to implement the project "Promotion of local values and experiences in the area of the Pannon Spatial Development Association", which ended on June 30, 2023.

TOP Plusz - Local and regional tourism development. after the long preparatory work of our application submitted to a call for proposals and won at the end of 2022, a support contract was concluded in the fall of this year, so the preparation and implementation of the implementation plans for the application can begin in the year 2024-2025. Within the framework of the project, in accordance with the Spatial Development Strategy of Vas County, the development of the tourist infrastructure of the Büki fishing lake, the Kőszeg boating lake, the Kőszeg brick factory lake, the Vassurányi lake, the Rábasömjén fishing lake, the Ikervár section of the Rába river and the Vasvár II fishing lake will be implemented in the With the support of the Hungarian Government and the European Union with the support of HUF 199,915,797. Small-scale infrastructural interventions on the previously listed lakes and river sections and in their immediate surroundings help to improve the image of the affected settlement, as well as expand the recreational opportunities of the population living in the area and the tourists who come there. As a result of the planned developments, in addition to the listed fishing waters, there will be roads, parking lots, fish ponds, fishing spots, as well as benches, rest areas, fishing spots with limited mobility, camp toilets, event spaces, bacon grills, information boards and other welfare improvements.

Our new tourism and rural development, as well as environmental protection projects are currently being developed, so that a higher-quality environment becomes available to everyone on the banks of the Vasi waters. Our plans include, in parallel with the renewal of the lakes, to carry out welfare improvements along the natural watercourses in stages, as well as to prepare and implement habitat development projects along the major watercourses (Rába, Pinka, Kerka...etc.) in cooperation with nature conservation and the water management within the framework of the MAHOP Plusz program that will be launched in the coming years . We would also like to thank the Hungarian National Fishing Association, the Vas County Municipality and the region's parliamentarians and mayors for their active support and cooperation in achieving our development goals.

The Vas County Fishing Association strives to protect, develop and expand the natural values of the water areas under its management, and to continuously increase its awareness both in Hungary and abroad. We are working to make our iron fishing waters popular and accessible to a wide group of society, rich in fish, thus providing a pleasant, cultured recreation for all fellow anglers.