The project “The treasures of the river: conservation of naiads, Iberian crayfish and European mink” is an initiative developed by ADEFFA, the Association for the Defense and Study of Native Fauna and Flora, with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment through its call for grants. The main actions of the project have consisted of the development of ex situ maintenance activities and captive breeding of species at the Camadoca Wildlife Breeding Centre in Santa María de Merlès (Barcelona).

To contribute to the maintenance and captive breeding of the naiad Margaritifera auricularia , maintenance and monitoring of the breeding have been carried out. In addition, control and feeding of the specimens have been carried out, in addition to the taking of water values from the ponds where the naiads live. To breed more specimens, a new 5,000-litre capacity pond has been built.
As for the European mink, new facilities have been set up to accommodate five new specimens and the existing ones in the centre have been refurbished. All specimens have been supervised and fed daily, in addition to being weighed and dewormed periodically.

The project has also paid special attention to environmental dissemination and awareness. To this end, two days have been organized to capture invasive crayfish – a species that colonizes the habitats of the Iberian crayfish – in the Riera de Merlès, in Santa María de Merlès. Environmental awareness workshops have also been held on the conservation of native species in danger of extinction, aimed at schoolchildren.

A set of activities that have served to contribute to preventing the extinction of the naiad, the European mink and the Iberian crayfish in the scope of action of the project.