Consequences of environmental pollution for fishery

Agriculture & Fishery

Paderborn, Lohgerberhütten am ehemaligen Wassertor der Pader, um 1900 (Ansichtskarte „Paderborn – Ausfluß der Pader“, Stadt- und KreisA Pb, S-M4D,Nr. 6952)

In the middle of the 19th century, those rights to river fishing that were exercised within Paderborn’s ring wall were held by the Jewish mill owner Sally Meyer. In 1874, he complained to the city because the wastewater from the red tanneries Sandhagen and Schumacher was poisoning his fish stocks.[1] By placing and washing calved animal skins in the upper reaches of the Pader, their waste products were polluting the water in such a way that sustainable fish farming was unthinkable. In 1925, the merchant Hubert Predeek complained to the city for similar reasons. Three years earlier he had leased the Pader fishery outside the city for six years (1922-1928). However, he claimed that the discharge of sulphurous wastewater from the Paderborn gasworks had poisoned the Pader, so that his entire fish stock had been destroyed.[2] Newly built sewers polluted the Pader water so severely in the 1920s and 1930s that numerous complaints were also made by the wider population about a general fish mortality.[3] In April 1929, the Pader fishery as far as Neuhaus was to be leased to the „Paderborner Sportangelverein“ (Paderborn Sports Anglers’ Association). The latter had previously offered to restock the dead river with young trout. However, a critical newspaper article by the „Fischereiverein für Westfalen“ (Fishing Association for Westphalia), which had reported alarmingly in the Westfälisches Volksblatt about the „fish mortality in the Paderborn area“ (20/21 April 1929), caused the magistrate to withdraw his lease commitment for the next five years.[4] It was not until April 1933 that the fishery on the Rothe and Pader was again leased to private individuals. The Paderborn merchant Nies and mill owner Schwarzendahl were awarded the lease.

Paderborn, red tanners' huts at the former water gate of the Pader, around 1900 (picture postcard „Paderborn – Ausfluß der Pader", Stadt- und KreisA Pb, S-M4D, Nr. 6952)
Paderborn, red tanners' huts at the former water gate of the Pader, around 1900 (picture postcard „Paderborn – Ausfluß der Pader", Stadt- und KreisA Pb, S-M4D, Nr. 6952)

[1] Cf. „Gesuch des Mühlenbesitzers S. Meyer zu Paderborn“, 12. Dez. 1874, StadtA Pb, A 2847, unfol.

[2] Cf. letter of 14 September 1925, StadtA Pb, A 4154, unfol.

[3] Cf. a. o. letter of 30 September 1925, StadtA Pb, A 4154, unfol.

[4] Cf. newspaper article excerpt of 20/21 April 1929, StadtA Pb, A 4154, unfol.

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This is an excerpt from an essay by the historian Prof. Dr. Michael Ströhmer. The original title of the essay is: "Wirtschaftsregion Pader - Eine geschichtswissenschaftliche Skizze (1350-1950)". Should you have further interest in the economic history of the Pader, we recommend downloading the complete essay (PDF file).

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