The Markermeer was long known as a "dead lake. After the closure by the Houtrib Dike in 1976, there was no longer a connection to the IJsselmeer and thus no longer a flow from the IJssel. This created a thick silt blanket with a suffocating effect on bottom life, the place where the food chain begins. Yet the Markermeer was anything but dead, says Joep: "It's true that the stock of fish and therefore birds has declined considerably over the past twenty years. And there are all kinds of human causes for this. At the same time we see that life here has adapted to the turbid conditions and all kinds of organisms can still grow here just fine. The question then is: how can you stimulate this organic growth in a natural way, so that the entire ecosystem benefits? Well, that's exactly why Marker Wadden was conceived.'

Gully connections

Joep has been active in the area for about four years now and has already observed many positive developments. 'You see that every year there are more aquatic plants and that this also attracts other fish species. So in addition to the usual roaches, we now count a lot of whitefish, rudd and tench in our traps. These are really reed-dependent species. In addition, over the past two years, a gully system has been constructed between the island banks and the open water so that even larger fish can get into shallow, nutrient-rich water to deposit eggs and their offspring can swim back to deeper water when they mature. At the same time, we also see predatory fish swimming in and feasting on the smaller fish. This in turn creates a whole new ecological balance.