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Recovering the Navia river, an environmental challenge

Marcelo Verdeja

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In the west of Asturias, very close to the border with Galicia, with which it acts as a natural border in many points of the interior, is the Navia river, the longest on the Asturian side with its 178 kilometers, of which about 40 run through Gallic lands.

Its basin represents 14% of the total number of rivers in Asturias, the second largest in this autonomous community, with an area of ​​2,572 km2, providing an average flow of 65.50 m3 / sec.

It is born in the heart of the Ancares mountain range, at a height of between 1,300 and 1,400 meters above sea level and ends at the coastal town of Navia, which gives its name to the river.

We are, without a doubt, before a very important river, with magnificent conditions for river life in which, for many years, salmon, lampreys, eels and eels rose up its waters; some to develop, others to fulfill their life cycle and perpetuate the species both in the main channel and in the numerous tributaries that presented (and still conserve) excellent conditions for their development. Rivers such as Ibias, Suarna, Río del Oro, Agüeira … stand out for their ability to host these migratory species.

But it was the need for energy production that ended the possibility of continuing to count on salmon in its waters and the disappearance of the mythical wells in which to fish them. Even today, some of the most veteran fishermen remember with nostalgia those past times, catches, wells and the size of their salmon.

Statistics up to the mid-sixties of the last century accounted for more than 1,200 fish caught per year, until three dams (Grandas, Doiras and Arbón) signed the death sentence for this emblematic salmon river. Especially the Arbón dam, built just 12 kilometers from the mouth, cutting the way to the Polea river, the only tributary with conditions for spawning salmon, below the other two dams.

Over the past 30 years, attempts to recover Atlantic salmon have increased significantly in many countries, aware that, in addition to promoting the diversity of river species by recovering their populations, sport fishing in rural areas where It realizes is an economic and development potential of those areas with few industrial options, which allows the population to take root, granting a good livelihood and avoiding the abandonment of rural areas.

Countries such as Iceland, Norway, Ireland, Sweden … obstacles are being removed in rivers, both natural and man-made, in an attempt to recover fewer and fewer populations of salmon, undoubtedly a global problem, such time due to climate change, overfishing in the sea, the increasingly worse conditions of rivers …; and, probably for these reasons and some more, the world salmon situation is not very rosy.

A great example of the interest in recovering salmon is that of the United States, which since 2012 has dismantled more than 1,700 dams, both on the East and West coasts, with immediate success in returning salmon to the channels of the rivers.

But it is not about demolishing anything (for the moment), that we are not very left over from electrical production.

In recent years, river engineering and the adaptation of both scales for salmonids and other species, as well as the return of fry to the sea, have evolved greatly, being practically applicable to almost all the obstacles that can be found in rivers; And what is not solved with scales is done with other methods, such as fish lifts.

With the idea of ​​unifying criteria, uniting wills and always keeping in mind the idea of ​​reestablishing the life cycle of marine and fluvial migratory species in the Navia river, the NGO Alfa Alfa (www.oceanoalfa.com) is going to develop a series of meetings and meetings with those responsible for the ministries of the Environment of Asturias and Galicia, fishermen’s associations, municipalities, hydroelectric companies and the NASF (North Atlantic Salmon Fund), to achieve among all those involved that salmon and other species return to repopulate the Navia river and its tributaries, more than 80 years after having ascended its waters for the last time.

The river, the biodiversity, the inhabitants and the development of the rural area of ​​the Navia basin deserve everyone’s effort to achieve it.

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