Healthy fish stocks -indicators of succesful river.. (HEALFISH)
Healthy fish stocks -indicators of succesful river basin management
(HEALFISH)
Start date: May 31, 2010,
End date: Apr 30, 2013
PROJECT
FINISHED
Healthy, self sustaining migratory salmonid (trout and salmon) stocks and lampreys are excellent indicators of good condition of river environment. A good salmonid river must be free of obstacles for migration. There must be enough spawning and nursery areas and they must be free of silt and other suspended solids. The aim of the project is to spread the best practices of river catchment management and river restoration in both countries by concrete actions in chosen pilot rivers. Activities will contain training of personnel -both experts of planning the measures as well as those, who will carry out actual construction work "learning by doing". Up-to-date information of the genetic status of the most important and widely spread salmonid fish -trout DNA samples will be collected and analysed. Enhancing the condition of the pilot rivers and their salmonid stocks the project will obtain know-how and practices that can be multiplied in other rivers in the region. Planned actions will effect on the conditions of the Gulf of Finland and Baltic Sea as a whole. For estimating the stock proportions in the mixed fisheries, genetic profile of the populations must be known. In this process, application of molecular genetic markers is major assistance. Wide knowledge of the behavior of salmonids in changing river environment is crucial. Therefore the fish studies are part of this project. To guarantee the obstacle free passage to the upstream and take care of the potential spawning areas, the river restoration actions and "learning by doing" training will be executed in this project. Restorations are done so that the whole catchment area is noticed and the possible actions in these areas are reported. Trainings will bring out more skills in both countries. Co-operation work with mutual trainings and consultations of experts from both countries will give all participants possibility to update their knowledge about all these following actions. Work packages are divided in to 5 different packages: one for management, one for communication and three for the actual work of the project. WP 1 is Project Management, WP 2 is DNA research, WP 3 is fish studies, WP 4 rivers restorations, natural drainage and WP 5 is communication and seminars. This project supports several national strategies set up by EU. Achievements: The project Healfish spreads the best practices of river catchment management and river restoration in Estonia and Finland in chosen pilot rivers. The project is doing river restoration work where the effects on the whole catchment area are taken into account. Additionally, it is training experts planning the restoration measures as well as those carrying out the actual construction work. To form the basis for the restoration, the project also conducts research on fish stocks. By enhancing the condition of the pilot rivers and their salmonid stocks, the project is obtaining know-how as well as practices that can be multiplied in other rivers in the region.
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