The conservation of Europe’s freshwater fish and their habitats is an important EU policy goal, supported not only through the Habitats Directive and EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, but also because of the clear and close links between water quality and fish conservation status, through the implementation of the Water framework Directive and River Basin Management Plans. As the only specific source of European level funding for nature conservation, the Life programme has made a huge contribution to the improved status of threaten fish species across the EU.

To read more go to: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/lifefocus/documents/fish.pdf