DiadSea Rivers in Focus: Diadromous Fish in the Miño, Deva and Tea

Within the framework of World Fish Migration Day, the Hydrobiology Laboratory of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) will lead a field trip to several stretches of the River Miño and its tributary, the Tea River.

A student’s group from the CFEA Lourizán (Pontevedra), a training centre for future river and forest officers in Galicia, will take part in the activity.

We will make several stops at strategic sites, each with a different level of importance for local diadromous fish populations. One of the main stops will be at the A Freixa ichthyological centre (Ponteareas), managed by Xunta de Galicia (Regional Government). We’ll visit this facility dedicated to capturing and monitoring these species in the River Tea, where fish are released safely back into the river after data collection. We will tour the facilities and fish‑capture devices and show participants the tagging methods used to track fish movements.

Next main stop will take place in Arbo, where we will visit the Wine and Lamprey Interpretation Centre. Here we will attend a talk on the ecological and cultural importance, threats, and current status of migratory fish populations in Galicia within the Atlantic Area. Comments will focus on the causes and consequences of the decline of sea lamprey populations.

The trip will end with a shared meal to celebrate World Fish Migration Day, followed by a card‑game session using the Migr’ocean game, developed under the DiadSea project.

This activity also forms part of the DiadSea project (Transnational cooperation to improve the management and conservation of diadromous fish at sea), a transnational cooperation initiative in the Atlantic Area that seeks to improve the management and conservation of diadromous fish, close knowledge gaps on their marine phase, strengthen river‑sea connectivity, promote international cooperation between fishers, scientists and administrations, and generate environmental, socio‑economic and educational benefits for fishing communities.