The joint effort made by the Municipality of San Martín de los Andes and the International Cooperation Agency of Japan (JICA) through the Applied Ecology Centre from Neuquén (CEAN), made it possible to build a catch and fish breeding station.
Duration: Half noon
Distance: 0 kms
Recommendations: these are the recommendations
Enabled: Autumn, Spring
Description tour: Fish trap (Reopening date to be confirm)
Taking care about the salmonids' future
The joint effort made by the Municipality of San Martín de los Andes and the International Cooperation Agency of Japan (JICA) through the Applied Ecology Centre from Neuquén (CEAN), made it possible to build, at the beginning of the century, a catch and fish breeding station.
Location
On the Lácar Lake coast, at the end of Pocahullo River, this station works to protect and reproduce different salmonid species in the area. Since May and during the whole winter, rainbow and brown trouts among others, swim against the Pocahullo River current to reproduce. Various natural and man-made (poaching) factors affect the breeding of these fish, lowering the effectiveness. From 5000 eggs that a female lays, only two are born.
Operation and purpose
The station's job consists of diverting the swimming path of these fish to intervene in their spawning and optimize the amount of eggs to fertilize. At the mouth of the river, a submerged mesh diverts the salmonids' way to a channel. They are collected through a trap that resembles a windmill, which has got three baskets that pick the fish and place them in a pool to one side. Once they are placed in this pool, the salmonids are selected and classified by sex, maturity and species. Then the trap staff choose the best of them and start the spawning in an artificial way. In this way, the efectiveness increases a 70%, earmarking part of this great number of fish for sowing. This will increase the number of population both in this and in other basins in the area.
Other practices that are made are the recognition of sick fish, the extraction of a sample of scales and to carry out educational activities aimed at raising awareness and diffusion of the importance of caring for natural resources and the need to create conditions for the existence of future generations of young fish.
Spacial features of the station
Although the first prototype was built by Native North Americans for more than a century ago, this capture fish station is not very common. Indeed, there only exist three stations in Japan.
The fish station located in San Martín de los Andes was designed taking into account the environment. In its construction particular account was taken to the non-disruption of the ecosystem. Therefore, not only materials from the area were used, such as logs and stones, but also tried to mimic the environment that surrounds it.
It has a large glazed pool where you can see the different species and sizes of these salmonids.
Travel agencies offering the ride
San Martín 836 2A (Centric) (02972) 427550
Cnel. Rohde 782 Oficina 5 (Centric) (02972) 420588
Cnel. Díaz 751 (Centric) (02972) 428876
Office: Secretaría de Turismo - Av. San Martín y Juan Manuel de Rosas
Opening hours: 7:00hs a 14:00hs
Phone: 02972-425500
Back to: Outdoors
Visit also:
Thermal Springs,
Seven Lakes Area,
Paso Córdoba Area,
Lanín - Tromen Area,
Lolog Area,
Lácar Area