Coimbra defends urgent measures to preserve lamprey in Mondego | Biodiversity

The Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Coimbra Region defended this Monday an “urgent” taking of measures to reverse the decline in the lamprey population in the Mondego River.

The CIM of the Coimbra Region called for “the urgent taking of measures by the competent entities to reverse the decline of the lamprey population in the Mondego River”, anda statement sent to the Lusa agency. sAccording to the same note, the CIM expressed its “deep concern” about the sharp reduction in lampreys in that river, at the last meeting of the intermunicipal council, which took place on March 22nd.

For the Coimbra Region, the drastic reduction that has occurred in recent years “puts the preservation of this species emblematic of the Mondego river, with serious impacts on the ecosystem and the local economy”.

In February, the Penacova City Council decided to cancel the Lamprey Festival, due to the scarcity of that fish; The Montemor-o-Velho Chamber, whose president leads the CIM of the Coimbra Region, decided to go ahead with the event, which took place in March.

According to the CIM note, the director of the Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Pedro Raposo, was present at the last intermunicipal council, where he addressed the shortage of lamprey in Mondego.

In February, the specialist in anadromous fish (species that, like the lamprey, reproduce in fresh water, but that develop in the sea) defended the prohibition of fishing for that fish to guarantee its recovery, in statements to Lusa.

“The situation has gotten worse. It’s a succession of bad years. 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023 were bad years, motivated by the drought and other situations that still cannot be explained, as there is a lack of knowledge about what happens to the species in the sea , in which there may be more mortality”, said Pedro Raposo at the time.

The researcher explained that the situation was not exclusive to Portugal, but that the country has the aggravating factor of being the southern limit of the species’ distribution.

If, in the past, the drought and consequent reduction in river flows could explain the drop in the population going up the rivers, this year “the flows are not bad”, but the situation has not improved and “everything suggests that it could be the worst year” since the team recorded the passage of the lamprey in the Coimbra bridge dam.

In that passage through the Mondego, a river where lamprey fishing is an ancestral tradition, only 295 specimens were recorded in 2017, 717 in 2019, 1328 specimens in 2020, 832 in 2022, and 1508 in 2023, records very far from the maximum values ​​( more than 20 thousand in 2014 and around 11 thousand in 2018).

“If we were consistent, we should close fishing. Any animal should be given the opportunity to reproduce, if not in seven years [ciclo de vida da lampreia] it will be even worse”, defended, at the time, the director of MARE.