The operation that the Agència Catalana de l'Aigua (ACA) and the Department of the Environment began at the end of March in order to eliminate the fish from the Sau reservoir in order to thus preserve the quality of the little water that remains has ended with 1.3 tons of fish caught during the first nine days of the operation, between March 15 and 23.
The figure is far from the two tons per day that had been forecast at the beginning of the operation. Some calculations that, according to the ACA, were made based on the experience of 2005, which resulted in some 16 tons caught, about a thousand kilos per day.
The ACA prefers to wait until the end of the operation, which will take another month and a half, to draw conclusions from the current low rate of fishing. José Soler, an experienced freshwater weigher in the area, explained a few days ago that the snags at the bottom of the swamp, in the form of dead trees, remains of buildings or ruins, complicated the tasks.
In any case, as the operation progresses it seems that the captures are encouraged a little more. The first day, a day in which the fishermen also took the opportunity to test their nets, ended with a scant booty that did not exceed twenty kilos.
A fact that made unnecessary the help of the crane to tow the fish, which was removed from the dam, by hand, by the sailors themselves. In recent days it seems that the crane has already become essential to transport the largest volume caught.
In total, more than 1,500 fish have been caught with a total weight of 1.3 tons. ACA sources confirm that all the species caught are invasive and among them are catfish, bleaks, sandras, carpines and roach, mainly.
The objective of the operation is to remove as many fish as possible from the dam to prevent their death due to lack of oxygen from contaminating the water and making it unusable for mouth use.
At the same time, water continues to be diverted from the Sau reservoir to the Susqueda, at a rate of 0.5 cubic hectometres per day. Today the Vilanova de Sau reservoir has about 12 cubic hectometres of water and is at 7.25% of its capacity.
