And it's always about money!
If you take a look at such pictures, you probably think of a failed flood protection measure under construction. Far from it! What is going on there is the biggest mess I have ever come across in terms of river destruction. The Catch & Release fly fishing stretch on the Lim in Berane starts right above the bridge in the centre of Berane. This is the only stretch, with the exception of the beautiful reserve on the Lim near Plav, where the huchen is protected and can grow to maturity without being killed before it reaches the magical 1 meter mark. That is exactly where I was drawn again in October 2024 to escape the wet weather at home for a few days. I knew the river and had last fished it five years ago. What I saw when I looked downstream from the bridge in front of the Hotel Berane was a picture of devastation.
Who builds such tough riverbank structures and which i...t approved this project?, flashed through my mind. Of course, this was my first question when I checked into the hotel. I had expected anything, but not this answer. I knew that in Montenegro bribery is a huge problem and that buildings are being erected for miles without any permits. But this was the last straw!
The only reason for this complete destruction between the bridges of the river, which had been quite untouched when I was last there, was corruption! Someone had actually blatantly bribed decision makers in order to easily remove gravel from the river for construction work. If it had been necessary from a river engineering perspective to build on this level to protect property, this would have been somewhat understandable, albeit with major compromises in terms of the method used. But there was no need for this here!
I couldn't believe that something like this is still possible in a country that is a candidate for EU accession. If you have EU aspirations you should for sure be familiar with the EU Water Framework Directive, too. Besides the destruction on the Sava Bohinjka, the oversized cycle path on river Idrijca SLO and the concrete bunker in the source area of the Jadro, this was the absolute low point in terms of the destruction of habitats worth protecting. But not only that, unfortunately, waste disposal via the river is still a tradition there...
