History of the building.

In 1862 the salmonfishery Klein Profijt was established at the opposite side of the river Oude Maas, near the town of Rhoon. This establishment made it one of the oldest salmonfisheries in The Netherlands. Around 1904 the salmonfishery was moved to the location of the present visitorcentre. Reason for the move was probably the expectation of a better catch along this side of the river. The buildings consisted of a house, a "boetkeet" (fishery shed used as workshop and living quarters for the fishermen) and some stables. The fishermen slept on the attic of the shed; sometimes they were with as many as 30 persons! Until approximately 1919 salmon was caught but the last years it was not profitable anymore. In fact, when building this fishery in 1904 the salmonfishery already became an ending business.

The salmonfishery was owned by the State, who farmed it out to the Versteeg family. This family caught salmon until 1919 and stayed to live here until Mr. Versteeg passed away in 1940. Mrs. Versteeg moved to live with one of her children. After 1940 the building has been used as a farm. The present receptionroom used to be a stable for cows and chickens. Later on the building served as a holiday house for the Managing Director of a large international company. He had the tilefloor laid and the harbour dug. Finally it was used by organisations and unions for short stays and study weeks.

By the end of the 80?s the manager at that time became too old to take care of the building. It became empty and soon the local youth discovered the place, broke in and tore it down resulting in the sad tragedy of setting it on fire.

The city counsel wanted to tear down the building and dig a deep harbour to serve the adjacent industrial area. As from the first "Oeverloop" (a 3-day walk around the island as close as possible along the riverbanks) in 1991 the HWL asked for attention for preservation of this cultutal-historical element and the natural area surrounding it. The support grew bigger and bigger and what was never to be expected, happened: The plans changed and Klein Profijt would be saved. In 1993 HWL signed an agreement with the company nextdoor, called Masterfoods. Masterfoods bought the area and HWL got permission to rebuild and manage the old salmonfishery. Volunteers of HWL started rebuilding Klein Profijt, re-using a.o. wood of the Andersenhuis in Heinenoord, a fence of a swimmingpool in Klaaswaal and parts of an old flaxfactory in Maasdam. After 12,000 hours of work and a sponsored amount of several hundreds of thousands euros to achieve all this, the completely restored visitorcentre Klein Profijt was officially opened by the Provincial Governer on 12th October 1995. The job was not yet finished; the restoration of the buildings continued and still continues.

The fishery.

The fishery used to work as follows: During ebb (the water flows towards the sea) the fishingnets ("zegens") were sailed out against the current. This had to be done quickly because the net was not supposed to float with the ebb stream. The nets were as long as the breadth of the river Oude Maas, which is approximately 450 mtr. In this way the whole river was closed down for the fish. Passing ships could sail through a small opening at th eopposite side of the river. Fish, swimming upriver against the current, entered in a large, semicircular shaped net which they could not escape from. As soon as the net had been sailed out, it was taken in again, whereafter the second net was already on its way to the opposite side of the river, followed by a third one. Fishermen used to catch fish with three nets throughout the low water period. The nets were made heavier with stones ("zegenstenen") at the bottomside. At the topside they connected pieces of cork for buoyancy. This resulted in a wall of fishingnet across the river from which no fish could escape. Heaving the nets used to be done with two winches. The remains of these winches are still visible near the benches at the rear end of the terrain. At the beginning of the 20th century horses were used for heaving, but were replaced by a steam engine. The large scale fishery started with the invention of the steam engine.

A grown salmon could weigh 40 kg and measure 1,50 mtr. That was the summersalmon, eaten full and fat when coming from sea swimming upstream to spawn whereafter it usually died. The reason for dying after spawning was that the salmons could only eat seafood; in the fresh water rivers they could not find any suitable food and would therefor starve. As from mid August until mid October there were no fishing activities. From October until February the wintersalmons of approximately 15 kg were caught. As from 1st May, the celebration of St. Jacob, the so called Jacob-salmon was caught. There were also "stallion-salmons", very skinny salmons that managed to return to sea after spawning. These "stallion-salmons" were not the fishermen's favourites. Salmon was rather expensive, it could yield € 45 each, which was about 8 times the weekly wages of a fisherman. 

Other fish species that were caught in these rivers are: allis shad, twaite shad, whitefish and sturgeon. These species, just like salmon, grew up at sea whereafter they returned to fresh water for spawning or mating. Sturgeon was the most remarkable fish; this originally native fish could weigh 400 kg and measure 6 mtr in length. In 1750 approximately 9,000 sturgeons were caught near the town of Geertruidenberg only; in 1900 in the whole country not more than just 800 pieces. The last sturgeon was caught in 1952 in the river Nieuwe Merwede, near De Biesbosch.

In 1900 the salmonfishing was reduced to approximately 20% of that in 1885. Several reasons can be mentioned for this reduction: By building dams and locks the salmon was not able anymore to swim upstream to the spawning grounds. The salmon also lost its spawning grounds because the gravelbeds in the rivers were dug out. Furthermore the rivers were increasingly polluted, thus poisoning its fish. By the end of the fishing era the salmon smelled like tar. The most important reason for the disappearance of the salmon, however, is overfishing (even already at that time!).

Fishermen who worked on the river Waal near Woudrichem requested the States-General to stop the fishing activities on the river Oude Maas, because they did not catch any fish anymore. A number of 10 State-owned fisheries were located in an area of about 30 km between the rivers Spui and Boven Merwede near De Biesbosch. 

By the end of the fishing era the fishermen had a dram when they caught one single salmon and they still did not get drunk because there was hardly any salmon left in the rivers. The last salmon caught professionally, was caught near Woudrichem in 1954. This fish had such a terrible smell, caused by pollution, that it was thrown away instantly.

Will the salmon ever return?

That is the big question. The quality of the riverwater is slowly improving. Upstream spawning grounds in The Netherlands and Germany are being restored. But the Nieuwe Waterweg is not yet suitable for the salmon. Salmon can not enter the Haringvliet through the sluices due to the strong current. But there is yet another important restriction: salmon gets its place of birth, the spawning ground, hereditary imprinted. The salmon will always return to its place of birth, where it will produce its posterity. Our ?Rhinesalmon? became extinct, which means that the original spawning ground can not be transfered hereditary. By means of experiment a number of young Scottish and Norwegian salmons were reintroduced in the Rhine in order to grow to an independent group of salmons in the year 2000. The young salmons never returned to the Rhine, but most likely swam to their original spawning grounds in Scotland and Norway.

The Rhine-Ministers of The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland promised to have the salmon back in this river and there is still being worked hard to achieve this. At Klein Profijt we will then again be able to meet this living symbol of a strong and healthy environment. The salmon will, however, not be caught professionally anymore.