RESTORATION OF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS IN PROTECTED AREAS IN THE ALPS AND PYRENEES

Angling day in Lake Miserino

Yesterday we were at Lake Miserino in Gran Paradiso National Park participating in the first Angling Day of the LIFE RESQUE ALPYR project, one of the public awareness activities included in the project. The person in charge was Rocco Tiberti, member of the project team from the University of Pavia.

Introduced fish represent the most important threat for high mountain lakes but angling in mountain lakes is a popular recreational activity. Reconciling this potentially conflictive framework probably represent the most challenging communication objective of the whole project.

The aim of the rod-angling sessions is to involve local recreational anglers in an attractive and engaging way, presenting them the scientific and conservation values of the project, and inviting them to participate in the eradication actions. Previous experiences have demonstrated that beside the educational aspects, the participation of the rod-anglers has also an important impact on the first phases of the eradication process, contributing significantly to the elimination of the adult trout population.

Thanks to the special fishing permits released by the National Park to 15 anglers from the Cogne Valley, we were able to remove 467 brook trout in two days.