The coordinator of Ecoloxistas d’Asturies criticizes that this cannot be the case let the fishermen set the rules about what can be caught and what not in the next season in the Asturian rivers. And like every year, it not only presents a problem, but also solutions.
For this reason, after the worst fishing season in our rivers this year, 2024, they have proposed the following proposals for discussion in the Fisheries Council to be held next Wednesday the 16thThe rivers do not belong to some fishermenalthough the Principality only takes them into account to decide what to fish and how to do it.
Proposals relating to fishing
- For salmon in the river we propose the total ban on all fishing compared to the Principality’s proposal to allow two salmon to be caught per fisherman per season, as last year. A maximum quota of 240 salmon for Nalón-Narcea, 210 for Sella-Piloña and 120 salmon for Cares-Deva is allowed per river basin; Esva 20 and Eo limit 30
- Specimens will no longer be collected in the retention basins installed on the Nalón scales, allowing all the fish in this basin to naturally ascend the river.
- Clean and sufficient infrastructure maintenance (ladders and others) that facilitate the ascent of the river and the return of the fish to the sea.
- They propose a reduction in catch quotas for trout and fish. Their proposal is 2 copies per fisherman per day (the Principality allows 6 copies this year).
- Ban on fishing with fatal consequences in the upper reaches of the rivers. The meeting or movement of two rivers, 200 meters above and below, will also be prohibited.
- Immediate cessation of fish stocking. They have not been effective in salmonid recovery. They are not supported by scientific studies.
- Preserve the riparian forest and restore it where it has disappeared.
- Restoration of the spawning grounds where they have disappeared due to various actions.
- Requirement to have a ecological minimal flow to all entities that collect water.
- Checking existing permitted discharges to ensure they meet the required parameters. Supervision of the illegal discharges and take action accordingly by the organizations responsible for this control. Special supervision of the correct operation of urban and industrial treatment plants.
- They demand the cessation of the killing of great cormorants.
- Controlling non-native fauna and flora species that colonize rivers at the expense of native species.
- That the Maritime Fisheries is requested to do so fishing ban for glass eel to the total recovery of the species, which is critically endangered, which is in accordance with the existing ban for its adult, the eel.
- Poaching controlby improving monitoring of the resource and its habitat, providing more and better resources for a nursery that is clearly inadequate and in need of expansion.
If we want to preserve and improve the rich natural heritage and important ecological diversity of the Asturian rivers, it is essential that the administration implements courageous management measures in the short term. If current management continues, aimed at the interests of some fishing associations, the risk of the disappearance of emblematic species such as the Atlantic salmon is evident.
From the Coordinadora Ecoloxista d’Asturies they remember that both the rivers and their species are the heritage of the entire Asturian society. And They don’t just belong to a handful of fishermen, as community environmental managers apparently assume.
