Freshwater ecosystems in Catalonia are highly threatened and have undergone during the last decades one of the largest biodiversity losses, in both species and habitats. The introduction of invasive fish species for recreational fishing and the release of pets and ornamental plants have led to a decrease of 92% of the native fish populations.

The Observatori del Patrimoni Natural (Natural Heritage Observatory) dedicates a video of the series State of Nature 2020 to the freshwater invasive species, with LIFE RESQUE ALPYR and LIFE LIMNOPIRINEUS as protagonists.

In this video Dr Marc Ventura, researcher of CEAB-CSIC and coordinator of both projects, details the activities undertaken during LIFE LIMNOPIRINEUS that have allowed to restore a whole ecosystem, a lake, eradicating the invasive species.

“As Pyrenean lakes are relatively closed environments, the extraction of the fishes that were introduced for recreational fishing has permitted to restore the complex ecosystem of a high mountain lake, naturally fishless” remarks the researcher.

In addition, he explains how with the new project LIFE RESQUE ALPYR the conservation and restoration tasks will continue not only in the most affected lakes in the Pyrenees, but also in the Italian Alps.