Figueira da Foz, Portugal, Oct. 16, 2024 (Lusa) - In 2024, the River Mondego had the lowest number of adult lampreys since records began, a researcher in the field said on Wednesday, noting that measures to limit fishing will be implemented in 2025.
‘It was the year with the lowest number of breeding adults in the Mondego,’ Pedro Raposo Almeida, director of the Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE) and a specialist in species that, like the lamprey, reproduce in freshwater but develop into adults in the sea, told Lusa.
According to the researcher, ‘a disastrous year was expected, because the fisherman didn't catch any lamprey’, but the records of lamprey passage at the Coimbra bridge weir recorded 1,969 specimens, far below what would be ideal for the animal's sustainability (over 10,000), but far from the lowest numbers so far recorded at the bridge weir (in 2017, 295 specimens were recorded, and 717 in 2019).
However, Pedro Raposo Almeida emphasised that this data alone does not explain the evolution of the stock since this year, fewer lampreys were caught in Figueira da Foz and Montemor-o-Velho than those that passed the bridge weir in Coimbra.
‘In 2017, for example, it is estimated that there were 12,000 animals caught,’ he noted, explaining that the number present in the river was much higher than this year when there were “not even 5,000 in the river, which is catastrophic for the Mondego”.
These figures were announced on Tuesday at a meeting in Figueira da Foz that brought together fishermen, the University of Évora/MARE, representatives of the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM), the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), the Maritime Authority, the PSP and the GNR's Nature and Environmental Protection Service.
The meeting, held as part of the international research project DiadSea, led by the University of Évora/MARE, was also an opportunity to communicate and establish the regulations for 2025, which will bring limitations to lamprey fishing.
According to the expert, large-staked nets will be abolished in the Mondego estuary by 2030.
‘What we're going to do is take ten days off the fishing period using this gear every year until it's no longer used in 2030,’ he said.
According to the researcher, this gear allows the animals to be ‘put in a bag, and they don't come out,’ making it possible to ‘always be fishing with minimal effort’.
‘We need to give the lamprey a better chance of making it up the Mondego,’ he emphasised.
Pedro Raposo Almeida said that the fishermen of the Mondego estuary have realised that measures need to be taken to ensure the presence of lamprey in the river, whose numbers are in sharp decline.
‘They realised that things weren't going well, not least because they didn't catch any this year, and they understood that something had to be done,’ he noted.
If there is no positive evolution in the number of lampreys in the Mondego, he said another type of restriction may have to be considered for 2026.
Despite all the problems, Pedro Raposo Almeira believes there has been positive work over the last ten years, particularly involving the fishing community.
‘We've realised something. The market even reacted well to the lack of lamprey. In other words, it paid and paid very well, with animals being sold for €100 or €150," he noted.
He also said that he believed it was possible to ensure ‘sustainable fishing, fishing less but with a higher yield’.
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