After the activities of scientific fishing for wels catfish conducted in the Natural Park of the Avigliana Lakes in April (the report can be found here), a second campaign was carried out in May by the staff of the National Research Council – Water Research Institute (CNR – IRSA) with the support of the park rangers of the Protected Areas of the Cozie Alps.
From April 16 to 23, an important session of scientific fishing for wels catfish took place in the Natural Park of the Avigliana Lakes. The operations were conducted by the staff of the National Research Council – Water Research Institute (CNR – IRSA), Coordinator of the Life Predator Project, in which the Protected Areas of the Cozie Alps are partners, to contain the Silurus glanis from the freshwater bodies of southern Europe where it is an invasive alien species.
In the course of 2025, the activity of the Life Predator project in the Avigliana Lakes Natural Park has entered the heart of the captures after the study phase conducted in previous years by project partners coordinated by IRSA CNR with the staff of the Protected Areas of the Cozie Alps and the appointed professionals. With the end of the calendar year and taking advantage of the winter break in the extraction operations, it is possible to draft an initial balance on the actual reduction of the biomass of Silurus glanis from the two Avigliana Lakes. The actions have been carried out within the European Life Predator project, of which the Park Authority is a partner, for the containment of the catfish, an invasive alien species, in the freshwater basins of southern Europe.
On Monday, October 29, 2025, professional fishing activities began for the containment of the catfish in the Avigliana Lakes Natural Park. The initiative is one of the actions of the Life Predator project, of which the Protected Areas of the Cozie Alps are partners, aimed at containing the Silurus glanis, the aquatic predator that represents an invasive alien species in the freshwater basins of Southern Europe.