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Venice could also be famed for Saint Mark’s Square or the Bridge of Sighs, however the Italian metropolis has one other jewel that’s usually neglected: its lagoon. Once dwelling to a wealthy number of fish and birds, mankind’s meddling has raised the water’s salt content material dramatically.
However, an environmental challenge goals to restore it to its former glory, by introducing extra recent water.
“The idea is to recreate an environment that has been lost over time, because rivers were diverted out of the lagoon,” Rossella Boscolo Brusa, the challenge’s chief, advised AFP.
The diversions had been completed to clear up swampy areas and fight malaria, mentioned Brusa, a researcher on the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra).
But the transfer had an unexpected consequence.
“It led to increasingly salty water and drop in the number of reeds, a very precious habitat for protected species, or species of commercial interest,” she mentioned.
It is peaceable out on the lagoon — the one noise comes from the occasional vacationer boat or the calls of a lapwing, sandpiper or egret.
Expert Adriano Sfriso, of the Ca Foscari University in Venice, mentioned that over half the lagoon used to be reedbeds and salt marshes — some 17,000 hectares (round 42,000 acres).
The metropolis’s Cannaregio district was even named after the vegetation — “canna” being the Italian for “reed”.
Today, solely 34 hectares stay, he mentioned.
– ‘Refresh’ –
The reeds tolerate some salinity.
But within the internal a part of the lagoon, the place the water ought to be between zero and 15 on the salinity scale, it’s 30 — not far off the quantity present in seawater.
Dubbed “Life Lagoon Refresh”, the challenge, launched in 2017, diverts a freshwater circulate from the Sile River into the lagoon.
A person-made canal, operational since May, permits the circulate of water to be modulated in accordance to the challenge’s wants or excessive tides.
Barriers made from biodegradable coconut fibres comprise the recent water within the goal space and assist the reeds develop.
In complete, the challenge goals to restore about 20 hectares of reeds, Sfriso mentioned.
Replanters Carlo Marchesi and Adriano Croitoru meticulously uproot reeds, taking care not to disturb the birds, earlier than punting just a few kilometres away to replant the clods.
“We’re going to rebuild the lagoon as our great-grandfathers knew it, much richer in fish and birds,” says Marchesi, 56.
Local fishermen and chook hunters are additionally roped in to assist transplant seagrasses that can pace up the return of aquatic vegetation.
– ‘Our world’ –
“The lagoon is our life, our world,” mentioned Massimo Parravicini, head of the principle newbie fishermen and hunters’ affiliation.
“If we preserve it, we will be able to enjoy it as much as possible, and pass it on to our sons,” mentioned the 58-year outdated, who frequently volunteers with the challenge, which he describes as “fundamental to the ecosystem”.
The salinity is constantly monitored, as is the water high quality, vegetation and fauna.
A big web is dragged vertically via the water as per the seine fishing methodology.
A workforce is tasked with tallying the species.
Some, such because the grass goby, are protected, whereas others, together with the ocean bream, mullet, flounder or branzino, are vital for small-scale fishing, Luca Scapin, additionally a researcher on the Ca Foscari University, mentioned.
The challenge, supported by the European Commission, additionally goals to draw birds such because the purple heron.
The outcomes shall be shared with websites with related points, from Hyeres in France, to Albufera in Spain, and the Nestos Delta and Porto Lagos in Greece.
(This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.)
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