Outdoor observatories

The outdoor monitoring sites are located on four rivers along the Atlantic coast: the Bresle River, Oir River, Scorff River and Nivelle River.

• Bresle River : located in Normandy, on the border between the Seine-Maritime and Somme departments (length: 72 km, catchment area: 748 km²)
   
• Oir River (first pilot site) : located in Normandy, in La Manche department (length: 19.5 km, catchment area: 87 km²)
   
• Scorff River : located in southern Brittany in the Morbihan department (length: 70 km, catchment area: 480 km²)
   
• Nivelle River : located in the Basque Country in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department (length: 39 km, catchment area: 238 km²)

The four rivers are equipped with monitoring stations for migratory  diadromous fish and have been subject to other regular biological monitoring programmes since the 1980s. The main species monitored include salmon (Salmo salar), trout (Salmo trutta), eel (Anguilla anguilla), shad (Alosa alosa), sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) and river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis). To understand certain behaviours or fluctuations in their populations, it is essential to monitor changes in the key environmental characteristics that influence the populations studied. Data on these characteristics are also available.

To find out more about the observatories, click on the links below:

The Bresle River

The Oir River

The Scorff River

The Nivelle River

Brochures for each of the sites are available here:

The Bresle River

The Oir River

The Scorff River

The Nivelle River

The book, "Three Decades of Observations and Research on Migratory Fish (2020) (in French) published as part of the "Understanding to Act" series, describes the ORE DiaPFC, its history, its facilities and the species it studies. It can be viewed here.