When summer arrives, we’re all drawn to the lakes. Spending days and weeks in your own four walls makes this longing even stronger. There’s enough space to get out of each other’s way on the water. With this in mind, stand-up paddling is a perfect Corona sport. As many people will be heading to the shores in the coming months, you might be tempted to leave the official bathing spots and paddle your board through the bushes to seek out remote corners of the lake. This is a nice adventure for stand-up paddle boarders, but not for the wildlife. To point this out, the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach, Pro Natura, Swiss Canoe and other partners have published a joint leaflet (available in German).
So far, so good. Goes without saying. But when you’re gliding almost silently over the water surface on the board, you feel in harmony with nature and quickly underestimate how disturbing your behaviour might be. What surprised me are the distances from which water bird sense stand-up paddlers as a threat. They might be frightened and rush off even if you’re over a kilometre away. In 2018, an empirical master thesis came to the conclusion that the animals feel more disturbed by stand-up paddle boarders than by rowers or sailors, for instance.
The current leaflet also points out that the silhouette of paddlers is particularly threatening to water birds. Therefore, you should stay well clear of these animals and their retreat areas. On the one hand, the nice thing about stand-up paddling is that you don't need a lot of equipment, you can paddle in shallow water and get to almost any place. On the other hand, outdoor enthusiasts also have a duty to show respect for animals. And this may start earlier than we might have thought.
