The project

The project is inspired by the territorial and environmental context and by the management and research experience developed in this field by the partners. It contributes to the implementation, improvement and optimization of Regulation (EC) No. 1100/2007 and the National Plan of the management of the species, offering new operational tools, which can also be replicated outside the project area, with potential positive repercussions also for the aquaculture and fisheries sectors. A large part of the project is dedicated to its replication throughout the European area, both with concrete conservation and awareness-raising actions carried out in Greece, thanks to the participation of the Greek Partner DEMETER, and with transfer activities of the skills and knowledge gained.

The Project

The project is inspired by the territorial and environmental context and by the management and research experience developed in this field by the partners. It contributes to the implementation, improvement and optimization of Regulation (EC) No. 1100/2007 and the PGN, offering new operational tools, which can also be replicated outside the project area, with potential positive repercussions also for the aquaculture and fisheries sectors. A large part of the project is dedicated to its replication throughout the European area, both with concrete conservation and awareness-raising actions carried out in Greece, thanks to the participation of the Greek Partner DEMETER, and with transfer activities of the skills and knowledge gained.

Strategies

The project will involve the Italian competent bodies (AdBPo and Regions) that have signed the “Memorandum of Understanding for a sustainable and unified management of fisheries and the protection of fish stocks in the Po River”, reaching the most remote parts of the vocational river basin, including the Canton Ticino, and promoting and developing a common and shared governance. In Greece LIFEEL will export its approach to the conservation of eel through concrete interventions on the territory and the transfer of the skills necessary to ensure its sustainability.

For the purposes of the operational objectives set out above, LIFEEL will implement the following strategies:

Species-specific defragmentation interventions

The Project will concretely improve the permeability of the eel inland waters, firstly through species-specific defragmentation interventions both in Italy (in the Ticino basin, in the Po Delta and in the Panaro River) and Greece (in the Nesto River); then it will put in place the potential related to the territory and the skills gained during the project, to define a plan for the recovery of longitudinal connectivity of the inland waters, to guarantee the freest possible migration of the eel in both directions.

Ensuring the return of the wild breeders to the breeding areas

The project will ensure the return of the wild breeders to the breeding areas through the development and application of fish friendly techniques for evaluating the process of sexual maturation and by releasing the most valid breeders caught in the Valli del Po.

Experimentation to complete the biological cycle in breeding environment

The support for the survival of juveniles in the wild will be pursued through research and experimentation to complete the biological cycle in breeding environment. The studies started 5 years ago at the University Research Center of Cesenatico and they were successful in the first step of artificial reproduction. Within this project, the second step of the research will be carried out by a pilot sub-project for weaning larvae in a controlled natural environment, in order to provide aquaculture with a viable alternative to recruit the juveniles in wild.

Awareness-raising, involvement and training

According to the target and in order to counteract the dangers arising from the lack of knowledge on the European eel, different and stratified experiments will be carried out as information, awareness-raising, involvement, training products and events.

Project area

LIFEEL will take place in two well-defined geographical areas: in Italy it will cover the area of the Po River basin (with particular reference to the plain and hilly area) and the Po Delta. Concrete interventions directed on the environment and the species will take place on the Rivers Tresa, Ticino, Panaro, Po, and in the areas of the Po Delta and the Comacchio Valleys. Here the project will involve three administrative regions – Lombardia, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna – and also the Swiss portion of the Po basin, extended in the Canton Ticino, also being able to count on the financial support of the Cantone for the entire project. The second area involved is located in Greece: here the project will focus on the territory of the National Park of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, including the Nesto River basin and a lagoon system that represents more than 24% of the lagoons present in Greece. Concrete conservation actions will concern the Nesto River and the lagoons.