English
With the aim to make the Port of Riga more accessible to anglers, boaters and fans of water tourism, the Freeport of Riga Authority will build a publicly accessible boat launch site (slip) in the vicinity of Voleri. The boat slip will facilitate the access of rescue services to the Daugava River and the surrounding water bodies, strengthening the response capacity of the relevant services. The implementation of the project will be a contribution to the improvement of the neighbourhoods of the Port of Riga and the strengthening of the relations of the Freeport of Riga Authority with the residents of the regions adjacent to the port.
The new boat launch site (slip) will be located in Voleri, next to a spacious parking lot, and it will be fit for simultaneously letting two watercraft vehicles into the water using a car with a trailer or boat trailer. The slip's construction work is scheduled to be completed in the fall of this year.
The design brief for the planned project was developed in cooperation with the Latvian Fishing Sports Federation (LMSF). ”Riga is rich in water resources, but their potential has not been sufficiently exploited. LMSF strongly supports this initiative of the Port of Riga and is ready to provide the necessary competence and good practice experience so that the residents of Riga and its surroundings get a comfortable, functional and safe place for launching boats,” said Kristiāns Godiņš, member of the Board of the federation.
Fishing and active recreation on the water are very popular, especially in the surroundings of the city of Riga. More than 150,000 Latvian residents have already taken up fishing as their hobby and way of recreation, and their number continues to grow, but there is a lack of appropriate infrastructure that would provide easy and safe access to water bodies in Riga. Currently, there are only a few publicly accessible places in the territory of Riga where it is possible to launch boats and cutters.
Riga's waters are rich in fish species, such as pike, perch, vimba, bream, zander and others that attract many anglers. Fishing in the waters surrounding Riga is becoming more common, and national and international fishing competitions organized by LMSF and others are regularly held in its water bodies, the number of participants steadily increasing.
”We would like to emphasize the good cooperation with the Freeport of Riga Authority, which is a great example of how to listen to the proposals of residents and public organizations and implement projects based on cooperation", stressed Kristiāns Godiņš.
