Overview

• On July 3 a Wels catfish bit a 69-year-old swimmer near Absberg, prompting authorities to remove the bathing island where the incident occurred.
• Landratsamt Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen and Zweckverband Brombachsee have begun echolot inspections of bathing islands and shore areas to locate and preempt catfish spawning sites.
• Fisheries experts link the rare attacks to territorial defense of eggs by Wels in unusually shallow, low-water zones at the end of their spawning period.
• After a June 20 incident in which a two-meter, 90-kg catfish injured five swimmers, police fatally shot the fish and Gasthof Zum Goldenen Lamm processed it into 120 fillet portions.
• Animal rights group PETA has filed legal action over the initial shooting, and officials say no further attacks are expected until the next spawning season if preventive measures hold.