[Animals] Girona starts electric fishing in the Onyar river to save the fish from the drought

[Draeno]

 

The consequences of the extreme drought suffered by Catalonia are also noticeable in the Onyar river. The Sorelló company has started electric fishing work on Wednesday to remove the existing fish in this river as it passes through the city of Girona. On this first day, hundreds of specimens have been captured.

The intervention has been carried out with approved tools that generate an electric field that covers a maximum of five meters, leaves the fish immobilized so that the operators can catch them with nets and separate the natives from the exotics, as explained a person in charge of the operation, Quim Pou.

Exotic fish, which appear in the Spanish catalog of invasive species, are put in bags or dry boxes and end up dying. Sacrifice is required by law. The natives are placed in containers with water and have been moving to the River Ter, so they can survive. Among the first there are many carp, roach and single fish. Among the natives there are Ebro blackheads, mountain blackheads, catfish and sticklebacks. In the Onyar there are a multitude of blackheads, which many people mistake for carp, and which can reach 80 centimeters in length.

According to the company's first estimates, 95% of the catches corresponded to invasive alien species and, therefore, had to be sacrificed. Once deceased, a specialized company is in charge of treating the remains.

The objective of the intervention, requested by the Girona City Council and authorized by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), is to remove the fish that are affected by the reduction in the river's flow and the poor water conditions due to the drought. The Onyar falls much drier than usual and, furthermore, it does not receive water from the Monar ditch. All this has caused a very evident reduction in the flow of the river in the urban section, now around 200 liters per second.

The Onyar usually already has little water. And the one that reaches Girona is almost all residual and purified. In the section that follows Carrer del Carme, from the cemetery to the Pedra bridge, it is practically a trickle of water. The flow only increases when the water from the ditch enters, coming from the River Ter, which multiplies the flow tenfold with between 1 and 3 cubic meters per second. Thus, the image that is seen of Onyar between the Pedra bridge and the Pedret bridge is generated. The water from the ditch enables the orchards of Salt and Santa Eugènia to be irrigated and, in the past, helped the textile factories.

 

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/sociedad/20230426/sequia-pesca-electrica-peces-rio-onyar-girona-86519851