The tributaries of the River Miño: testing solutions for diadromous fish in LIFE REVIVE.

The Hydrobiology Laboratory of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) will lead a field trip to several stretches of the River Miño and its tributary the River Deva, to celebrate the World Fish Migration Day in Galicia.

A group of 21 students from the CFEA Lourizán (Pontevedra), a training centre for future river and forest officers in Galicia, will participate in the activity. will stop at several key places linked to the research we have carried out over the years on local populations of diadromous fish. We will head towards the River Deva (Arbo), where a fish pass has been built to allow both upstream and downstream migration. Here we will hold a discussion on the importance of removing or making river barriers permeable to allow free movement and access for different species to suitable spawning areas.

In Arbo we will also visit the Wine and Lamprey Interpretation Centre. The trip will end with a shared meal to celebrate World Fish Migration Day and visiting one of the traditional “pesqueiras” in the River Miño, stone structures of great ethnographic significance that have been used since the Middle Ages for lamprey fishing.

This activity is also part of the LIFE REVIVE project (Innovative and integrated solutions to mitigate hydromorphological pressures and enhance ecological status in the Lima and Vouga basins). The project aims to improve the ecological status of the Lima and Vouga river basins in Portugal through innovative solutions designed both to restore river connectivity -by removing dams, weirs and alterations to natural flow rates- and to control invasive aquatic flora. Furthermore, the initiative involves strong cross-border cooperation and the replication of key actions across several rivers along the international stretch of the Miño River in Galicia.