In May 2024, MedINA launched the MapStream project to create an inventory of barriers in the Sarantaporos sub-basin, a main tributary of the transboundary Aoos/Vjosa River. Sarantaporos, a biodiversity hotspot, hosts eleven fish species, including the Critically Endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and the Western Balkan trout (Salmo farioides). It also supports a significant population of Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra), which depend on these fish and harbors twenty-nine Odonata species, representing one-third of Greece’s recorded species. The MapStream project involves extensive fieldwork in mapping barriers in the Sarantaporos sub-basins rivers and streams, a first for Greece. MedINA will develop five example cases for removing obsolete barriers using this comprehensive inventory. This initiative aims to enhance the protection of the Sarantaporos and Aoos river basins, addressing a crucial gap in national river ecosystem policy and management. Furthermore, MapStream aligns with European Law on Nature Restoration and the Habitats Directive and strengthens the Dam Removal Greece network. The European Open Rivers Programme funds the project.
For further information, please contact Petros Kollias
