Herintroductie van beekprik in de Reusel, is het een succes?

De beekprik verdween in de loop van de 20e eeuw uit veel Nederlandse beken, waaronder de Noord-Brabantse Reusel. Van 2014 tot 2018 is de beekprik hier geherintroduceerd. Hoe is dat verlopen en hoe staat het er nu voor? In dit artikel wordt een overzicht gegeven van de voorbereidingsfase, uitvoering en vervolgmonitoring. Reintroduction of brook lamprey in the Reusel. A success? In half of its former range in the Netherlands, brook lamprey (Lampetra planeri) became extinct. A reintroduction project from 2014 until 2018 was aimed re-establishing a population in the Reusel stream. Each year just over 1000 individuals (96% larvae, 4% adults) were translocated from a nearby population. Monitoring reveals that the donor population was ot put at risk and showd the successful start of a new population. The reintroduced population survives and reproduces. Larvae densities increased to >2 individuals per square meter in (sub) optimal habitat. There are larvae of different length classes and the distribution range expanded to 5 km. In 2024 the population is at the point of sustaining itself. Due to a high probability of droughts and increased extinction risks, the best available integrated estimate of population status would be ‘Endangered’. The water system is highly sensitive to progressive impacts from climate change and intensive land use. Further restoration of the catchment and sustainable land use are extremely important to both the ecosystem and agriculture