Presentation of the Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Associations

The Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Associations currently operates as a non-profit civil organization in 1397.19 ha of water area as a fish management licensee for 44 fishing waters in Vas and 6 in Zala.

Last year's record - 11,524 people - we managed to further increase our number of adult and child anglers to an unprecedented height of 12,002 people in 2022. It is a great pleasure for us that out of this number of members, the number of our children who changed state tickets also increased to 1,833 people, which is an increase of 52 people compared to the number of children in 2021 of 1,781 people. In addition to the growth of fishing membership, our main goal is to have more and more people exchange regional fishing licenses for the fishing waters we use. Despite the introduced price increases, a total of 3,534 adult fishermen found the opportunity to relax on the banks of the Vasi waters, which is 42 more than the number of 3,492 adults in 2021. It is also a gratifying fact with regard to child anglers that we have managed to increase the number of annual ticket changes from the previous 784 to 811 by 2022.

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 2023. 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. Today, 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.

The increase in the number of fishermen and license changes ensured that, in addition to rising fish prices , we were able to release a total of 85,183 kg of one-two- and three-year-old fish, as well as 75,150 pre-raised native fish stocking quantities into our waters . In accordance with the fish management plans approved by the authority and the needs of the fishermen, the largest amount of catchable carp was planted in the fishing waters. In addition to the predominance of carp, this year we also tried to plant as many other native fish species as possible, depending on the purchasing possibilities. During the year, the following quantities of native fish were released: 3,150 bream, 5,000 catfish, 6,000 brown trout, 20,000 bream, 8,000 bream, 3,000 tench, 20,000 pike. It is a great pleasure for us that this year we managed to release 10,000 single-season perch, 763 kg of one- or two-season perch, 950 kg of two-season ham and 20,850 kg of mixed whitefish.

Our association performed the following tasks in the previous years:

Central education on new fishing and fish management laws and rules and a professional day were held on several occasions.
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: 500-700 people.
10-12 times a year, he organized fishing competitions, youth camps, and children's competitions involving 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 20-25 teams competed in the multi-round competition. We consider it an important result that more than 1,000 children have been introduced to fishing, the wildlife of the fishing waters of Vas County and the protection of the 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 acquire three Suzuki Vitara fishing guard all-terrain vehicles. Currently, 4 service all-terrain vehicles, a boat + boat motor and a large trailer are available for 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 can take place in the spring of 2022.

In addition to the improvements listed above, we also renovated the accommodations in our 15-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 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 will end on June 30, 2023. One of the main goals of the project is to focus on the importance of local values and experiences in addition to fishing among tourists visiting the area and residents of Vas County. As part of the project, a regional Facebook and Instagram page titled "Pannon Experience" was created and continuously operated, and a 2022 regional PANTER calendar was also prepared. We are also present at regional community and local government events, which we regularly report on.

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, implementing welfare improvements along the natural watercourses in stages, as well as preparing and implementing habitat improvement projects along the major watercourses (Rába, Pinka, Kerka...etc.) in cooperation with the nature conservation and 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.