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This has been known for more than 20 years: the Aare area from Lüsslingen to Solothurn and from Feldbrunnen to Flumenthal is a national reserve. What applies from mid-September: rowing is prohibited on both stretches of the river. It is no longer allowed all year, what so many have done all summer: climb the Aare with the board in the pool or on the red bridge, drift downstream, paddle upstream.
In theory, the ban has been in place for a long time. “But nobody knew,” explains Marcel Tschan from the Bureau of Forests, Game and Fisheries over the phone. In an interview at the hunting and fishing manager’s office, Tschan explains everything in more detail. In 2001, the two stretches of the Aare were declared a “reserve of aquatic and migratory birds of national importance” at the federal level. Since July 15, 2015, the associated ordinance has established that “driving with kiteboards or similar devices” is prohibited in these areas. It is now known that standing paddles, which have become fashionable, are also included in “similar devices” according to the Federal Office for the Environment and are therefore banned in various rivers and lakes in Switzerland.
“Birds know that humans are dangerous. If a person glides almost silently over the water on an oar, the animals feel as if they are walking down the Aare, ”says Tschan, explaining the problem. Then they would flee, in the worst case they would leave the area entirely. “And for something there are protected areas, the canton is responsible for protecting animal species.” In the Aare area near Solothurn, it is mainly the grebe. What seems special from all of history: motor boats and rubber boats are not prohibited in the upper section of the protected area, from Lüsslingen to Solothurn. At the bottom, winter driving is prohibited; in summer row boats and small motor boats are allowed.
The result of the vote has an impact on the ban.
“Stand up paddles should seem a lot more harmless to most,” says Tschan. But precisely because motor boats sound so much louder, water and migratory birds are less afraid of them. “They no longer associate any danger with noise, they know that nothing will happen to them and that a noisy ship runs out quickly.” Also, motor boats tend to move more in the middle of the Aare. Keelless flat oars are much more likely to be used in shallow water or near reeds, where animals like the grebe like to hang out.
The canton begins reporting on the ban on September 15. Appropriate stickers will be pasted on existing posters in the Aare that provide information about the protected area. By next summer, when the Aare attracts again, regulation is expected to be among the people. The supervisors of the cantonal reserve, as well as the police, who also monitor the Aareböötlers in summer, will check if they comply. What happens if you row despite the ban? Tschan shrugs. “That is then a matter for the police authorities.” Anyone who violates the regulation and therefore the hunting law is subject to prosecution. Those who act deliberately risk up to a year in prison or a fine, those who negligently ignore the law must pay a fine.
But: The year-round ban is not entirely set in stone. If the revised hunting law is adopted on September 27, this would also have an impact on stand-up paddles. In this case, Tschan explains, the cantons would have jurisdiction to adjust the ban: In Solothurn, for example, it would be conceivable to allow paddles standing in the middle of the river in protected areas during the summer. But only if the law is passed. Furthermore, what was already said in the run-up to the vote is not correct: the new law does not imply a ban on stand-up paddling. The ordinance on migratory and waterfowl reserves would only be changed so that the term stand-up paddle is adopted literally. But they are already banned in protected areas; even if hardly anyone knew before.