PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Fish are unusually active animals, changing their habitats over the seasons of the year with the aim of reaching particular stages of their lifecycle. They reproduce in one place, their fry and young feed elsewhere and adult fish prefer other sites as their feeding grounds. The same applies to winter habitats of particular fish generations. With this in mind, it is therefore important to protect the sites that are crucial to fish existence (spawning grounds, migration routes), as well as to preserve periodical river floods – as it is according to the natural rhythm of ebbs and flows that river ichthyofauna accomplish their lifecycle. Disturbing or breaking this rhythm can (in extreme cases) result in extinction, and, often leads to a reduction in numbers of particular fish species. The Rega basin is a relatively cohesive ecosystem. However, the construction of a high number of hydro-technical structures caused a significant decrease in its biodiversity. These structures made it difficult, or even impossible, for fish to arrive at their spawning grounds or inhabit appropriate biotopes, located in the upper course of the river. In the Rega basin there are two Natura 2000 protected sites: the mouth of the Rega river and the Brzeźnicka Węgorza. Since 2005, the Rega river has been restocked with Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and a few hundred thousand fry of this species have been put into the river. Since the spawning grounds were not large enough to restock salmon it was necessary to clear spawning channels and create appropriate spawning grounds. By clearing the whole area of the Rega basin some wildlife corridors have been created.
OBJECTIVES
The overall project objective was to increase the biodiversity of the water ecosystems protected by the Natura 2000 sites, by linking them with an ecological corridor. The additional objective was to restock the salmon population in the Rega basin.
Specific project objectives were:
RESULTS
These objectives were reached by performing the following actions:
- Clearing migration routes in the Rega river and its major tributaries by building 23 fish passes;
- Creating artificial spawning grounds and enlarging the area of natural spawning grounds for salmonids to 12,912.68 m2;
- Planting 61,000 trees along the river bank to create shaded areas and lower the water temperature;
- Installation of monitoring devices to keep a record the fish migrating upstream and downstream; and
- Installation of electronic barriers at the sites where re-directing fish away from the water power plants' turbines was necessary.
As a result of the project implementation, the Rega basin has become again the functional blue corridor for water organisms (in particular for target migratory, anadromous fish populations). Large scale protective measures were introduced for previously isolated Natura 2000 sites (establishment of 19 km of 3 locally protected "ecological areas"). There is evidence of the increase in a number of the target fish species and the spawning nests on the grounds created under the project and naturally occurring along the rivers open by the constructed fish passes.
The project achieved all the foreseen objectives and contributed to enforcement of the Water Framework Directive, Floods Directive, Birds and Habitats Directives, the EU Biodiversity Strategy and for the national policy concerning the Water Law and Natura 2000 sites management.
The project contributed also to the increase of public awareness concerning the conservation measures within the Natura 2000 sites (the Monitoring and Information Centre has been open). The anti-poaching interventions, educational and promotional actions proved to be needed and well organised.
The end of the project was marked with the development of After LIFE Conservation Plan – a document including planned activities aimed at maintaining the effects of the project.
