Nivelle River migration monitoring station

On the Nivelle River, the ORE DiaPFC manages two monitoring stations installed at the fish passes of the Olha and Uxondoa dams to (1) obtain accurate data on the abundance and characteristics of the fish populations and (2) capture wild individuals for scientific purposes (tagging, genetic sampling, telemetric tracking, etc.).

The station at the Uxondoa fish pass, lies downstream of the village of Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. It is located on a 2,000 m² plot of land owned by the French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments (ONEMA), while the fish pass and technical buildings were constructed by the Fishing Federation of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department (FDPPMA 64).

The station at the Olha fish pass lies upstream of the village. It is located on land owned by the Association for Fishing and Protection of Aquatic Environments of the Basque Country (AAPPMA Nivelle) (969 m²). The two fish passes, which consist of successive pools, are built on weirs (privately owned) and contain a fish trap in their upstream pool. The fish enter the trap cage (similar to a fyke net) and remain there until they are collected by the data-collection team (staff from INRAE, the Great Migrators Association of the Adour River Basin (MIGRADOUR) and AAPPMA Nivelle). The two stations were modernised in 2011 and 2012 using funds from the MIGRANET project (Interreg SUDOE programme).

Trapping

The Nivelle River is equipped with two fish passes fitted with traps to monitor upstream migration: Uxondoa in the lower Nivelle (since 1984) and Olha at the confluence of the lower and upper Nivelle River (since 1992).

Data are collected is carried out mainly at the Uxondoa monitoring station, which is equipped with an upstream migration intercept trap and located 4.7 km upstream of the salinity boundary. It is supplemented by monitoring fish that migrate through the Olha fish pass

The Uxondoa and Olha traps operate continuously from March-January, except during periods of high water or repairs and on certain weekends when staff are on rotation (approximately every other weekend). 

	Salmon Monitoring salmon migrations since 1984	See report
	Trout Monitoring trout migrations since 1984
	Shad Monitoring allis shad migrations since 1984