Solution: Christmas Trees, Help for Aquatic Environment

Small ideas can sometimes have big results. A concrete solution to help the environment is related to one of the central points of the winter holidays. Christmas trees are collected after the holiday season and recycled in the frozen waters of Stockholm for the benefit of wild aquatic species living in the Swedish archipelago. Environmental activists have welcomed the initiative of a national association of fishermen that contributes to rebalancing the endangered ecosystem due to human activities. After the winter holidays, the trees are attached to stones and thrown from a boat into a lake in an industrial area of the Swedish capital. "Around us are a lot of constructions, many boats passing through here," explained Malin Kjellin, project manager at the Swedish fishing association Sportfiskarna, to AFP. "The vegetation needed for the fish to spawn has disappeared, so this is a way to replace what has been lost," she explained. Since 2016, every year, the association has collected trees from individuals after the Christmas period, which have already been placed in various areas of the archipelago. Each tree, with its branches and needles, "is ideal for fish to lay their eggs and also for the little ones to hide," she added. In underwater video footage, filmed near the trees submerged in previous years, groups of small fish can be seen nestled among the branches. "We see that it really works," said Yvonne Blomback, project manager at WWF. "These fish are very important as they participate in the food chain that helps regulate algae. They are a real problem in the Baltic Sea due to fertilization of agricultural land and runoff into the sea," she explained. "Since the end of the 19th century, the marshes near the coasts have been transformed into fields, although they were a very important habitat for fish, and since then they have had major survival problems," Blomback said. January 13 marks the end of the winter holidays in the Scandinavian country, and it is the day when people throw away their Christmas trees. The successful initiative has expanded to other regions.