Ana Tunas Matilla
Navarre, 21 Feb. Spanish and French experts will work together to improve the habitat of species in critical situation that inhabit five basins of the Bay of Biscay through the Life Kantauribai project, co-financed by European funds and which will devote a large part of its budget to the demolition and the permeabilization of dams.
With the aim of improving the condition of the rivers that flow between Spain and France, Life Kantauribai was born, a project co-financed with European funds that will act in five basins of the Bay of Biscay: Oria and Urumea, between Navarre and Guipúzcoa; The Nive and the Nivelle, between Aquitaine and Navarre, and the Bidasoa, shared by the three.
River restoration will primarily consist of restoring the longitudinal continuity of rivers by removing disused dams and constructing fishways in those that cannot be demolished.
At the same time, they will work with native species, with a focus on fish that migrate between the sea and the river; locating live specimens of river mussels and improving populations of mammals such as European mink and Iberian desman. In addition, they will eradicate exotic species such as nutria and American mink.
The situation of these native species is “compromised” and there is a need to improve their habitat and conservation status, according to Josu Elso, fish management specialist at the Gestión Ambiental de Navarra (GAN).
“We hope that thanks to the project it will be possible to improve the size of these populations”, according to the expert, who warned that the bad situation in which they find themselves is caused, almost always, by “the abuse that make us rivers of humans”.
“For decades we have been using the resources of the river without thinking about biodiversity and this has led us to create many dams, to extract a lot of water, and this has had negative consequences which, in the long term, have led these species to be the situation in which they find themselves.”
TEAR 25 OBSTACLES
To partially reverse the fragmentation of the rivers and, consequently, the poor situation of the species, they will demolish 25 dams or dykes and make seven others permeable.
With the demolition, in addition to facilitating the transit of migratory fish, the sediments now retained by the dams will be able to rise downstream, restoring part of the river to its original morphology, according to the head of hydraulic works in the Basque Country. Water Agency (URA). ), Aitziber Urquijo.
Permeabilization will consist of installing fish passage ramps and will be carried out in dams that cannot be demolished because there is a valid concession, for example, for hydroelectric use; because they have become a heritage asset, for social reasons or for technical reasons.
Among the dams on which they will act, that of the Artikutza reservoir stands out, the largest in Spain to have been emptied and which represents a technical and environmental challenge.
AUTOMATED TRACKING
Apart from improving their habitat, the objective of Kantauribai is to know the real situation of species such as salmon, lamprey or shad, and to find living specimens of river mussels, explained the head of the River Environment Section of the Rural Development Directorate. and Environment of Navarre, José Ardaiz.
To control the fish, they will replace the current sampling system, based on the manipulation of specimens captured and anesthetized for study and then released, with the use of underwater cameras that will allow them to be identified and analyzed without having to touch them, thus eliminating the stress that this generates.
In order to try to locate living specimens of river mussels (of which they have only found remains of dead specimens), they will carry out environmental DNA-based sampling to establish in which areas they might be found and track them. with the help of mirafundos.
“It is important to have data on fish populations because it allows us to assess how they are doing in the future. In the case of salmon, the global trend is that they are not doing well, the conditions of climate change do not favor a species that likes fresh water”.
“It allows us to be a kind of alert. If the fish populations that live in our rivers are going badly, something is happening and we have to try to fix it (…). With projects like this we can improve the health of our rivers, which ultimately is our own health.”
HELP THE IBERIAN DESMAN AND THE EUROPEAN MINK
As for mammals, they will focus on improving the populations of two native species in critical situation: the Iberian desman and the European mink; and by reducing those of two invaders: the nutria and the American mink, according to the expert of the Wildlife Service of the Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa Aitor Lekuona.
These two invaders entered Europe at the hands of the fur trade and have an environmental impact, since they compete with native species to survive, and economically, due to the damage they cause, for example, in agriculture. .
“Working with American mink is essential if we are to maintain European mink populations as one feeds on the other and competes for the same space.” To capture them, they will use floating platforms, a system that has proven to be very effective and developed in the UK. ECE
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