The objectives of the project are to recover the European sturgeon and improve the populations of European eel, sea lamprey and saboga in the Ebro.

This project aims to recover the European sturgeon and improve the populations of European eel, sea lamprey and saboga in the final stretch of the Ebro River. In addition, tryto improve the ecological connectivity of the final stretch of the Ebro, adapting existing obstacles to allow fish migration, increasing the availability of spawning habitats for broodstock and increasing distribution in the eel area.

In this way, the Institut per al Desenvolupament de la Comarques de l’Ebre (IDECE) seeks to recover healthy and sustainable populations of European sturgeon, European eel, saboga and sea lamprey within a period of 20 to 30 years in the final stretch of the Ebro River.

The initiative also aims to involve the community as well as a wide network of nature managers, farmers, fishermen’s associations, water managers, electricity companies, tourism agents and authorities to work together in the recovery of migratory fish and in the improvement of ecological management in the final stretch of the Ebro River.

The activities of this initiative include:

• Preparation and coordination of the scientific and technical management plan of the project
• Compilation of data on the status of migratory fish stocks and their phenology and physical, physicochemical and biological indicators
• Environmental technical prescriptions for fish passage devices by collecting experiences of improving ecological connectivity in other rivers
• Creation and coordination of an international scientific advisory committee (with representatives of IRSTEA‐Bordeaux, MIGADO‐France, Wanningen consult, Ministry of Agriculture, Complutense University of Madrid, etc.)
• Assessment of the status of eel and other fish stocks and biological indicators (water, macrophytes, aquatic invertebrates and sediments) in the final stretch of the Ebro River

Thanks to the implementation of this project, the development plan and coordination of the LIFE project at a scientific and technical level, collecting data on the status of migratory fish stocks (European eel, European sturgeon, saboga and sea lamprey), phenologies, migrations, etc. and Environmental prescriptions for pass-through devices have been made for fish based on experiences of improving connectivity, with the aim of achieving, in future phases of the project, a better population structure of these native fish species in the Ebro River and a greater number of passable passage devices for fish respectively.

On the other hand , an international scientific advisory committee has been created and coordinated with representatives of IRSTEA-Bordeaux, MIGADO-France, Wanningen consult, Ministry of Agriculture, UCM, among others. In addition, methodologies have been compiled to assess the status of eel and other fish populations and biological indicators (water, macrophytes, aquatic invertebrates and sediments) that will allow ecological monitoring to be carried out during the development of the project.