Restoration of Lake Minnow Eupallasella Percnurusin the Polesie National Park

27 Mar Restoration of Lake Minnow Eupallasella Percnurusin the Polesie National Park

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Abstract

W celu restytucji strzebli błotnej Eupallasella percnurus (Pallas, 1814), zagrożonego wyginięciem rodzimego gatunku ryby karpiowatej, w latach 2015–2017 zostały przeprowadzone w Poleskim Parku Narodowym czynne działania ochronne. Do niedawna panował pogląd, że obszar parku jest ważną krajową ostoją tej ryby, jednak nie potwierdzają tego źródła historyczne, a ostatnia inwenta

English Abstract

Lake minnow, Eupallasella percnurus, is regarded as one of the rarest and most endangered native freshwater fish species in Poland. Due to this fact, it became strictly protected in 1975, and today requires active protection measures. This article reports the principles, course and first results of the programme aimed at the restoration of lake minnow in the Polesie National Park (Poland). Most likely the area of PNP has never been a large sanctuary of this species, but it has occurred there quite recently (in the 1990s) in a few water bodies. Lake minnow is currently extinct in PNP as a result of degradation of its habitats, i.e. anthropogenic peat excavations. In 2012, a comprehensive inventory was performed to select from among small water bodies of PNP those that can be used for introduction of lake minnow populations. Three small (0.03–0.23 ha) vanishing peat excavations located at Lake Karaśne (51°25′51.62′′N; 23°06′38.80′′E) proved to be the most promising. All these shallow water bodies were partially deepened in late autumn 2015 to ensure the maximum depth exceeding 1 m. In September 2016, a total of 300 wild adult lake minnow were caught in a water body in the village of Siedliszcze, inhabited by a large population of this species. The fish were translocated to the revitalised habitats in PNP in order to initiate new populations. In July 2017, the control catch of the fish was carried out. Both adult and juvenile (YOY) lake minnow proved to occur in all water bodies. The programme of lake minnow active protection, comprising the improvement of their habitats followed by wild fish translocation, has been applied for the first time in Poland.