Pallipes project for the protection of crayfish between Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia

Updating the state of knowledge on the populations of river crayfish, a species considered to be at risk, in Friuli Venezia Giulia and in the Italian-Slovenian cross-border area, and implementing management measures for non-indigenous species, such as the Louisiana red crayfish, provided for by the Regional Strategy for the Management of Invasive Alien Species and by the Management Plans for Natura 2000 network sites.

These are the main actions of the Pallipes project, financed by the Interreg Italy-Slovenia Operational Programme 2021-2027, which focuses on the protection of the crayfish and its habitat. In the past few days, during a meeting at the Aquarium of Ariis di Rivignano with regional partners and stakeholders, the economic operators entrusted with the monitoring services by the Hunting and Fishery Resources Service of the FVG Region's Agri-Food Resources Department, Prisma srl and ForNature srl of Udine, presented the results of their activities, from which it emerged that the watercourses located in the eastern part of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, straddling Italia and Slovenia, represent a preferred area for the species. In the valleys of the Torre and Natisone, more than 100 crayfish were surveyed at some sampling stations.

'Of concern', however, is the location of the species, abundant at some stations but rare or absent from others. Furthermore, the stations and therefore the most important river stretches 'are not affected by any degree of protection'. The Department of Life Sciences of the University of Trieste contributed to the activities with regard to the monitoring of autochthonous and invasive crayfish using environmental DNA (e-Dna) methodology, and the Fish Heritage Protection Agency, which suggested the best management practices for crayfish farming. The project's final conference is scheduled for November 2026, in the St. Kanzian Caves Park (Slovenia), the project's lead partner.