• 21.03.2025

First Field Activities Launched within the CRADLES Project



Univerzitet Crne Gore
Univerzitet Crne Gore
Univerzitet Crne Gore

The first field activities within the INTERREG IPA ADRION project CRADLES, implemented by the Institute of Marine Biology of the University of Montenegro, began on March 21st, 2025, at the mouth of the Bojana River!

The Bojana River estuary is one of two pilot locations in Montenegro (the other being the area of the Tivat Salina) where the Institute will conduct regular monitoring of the composition and abundance of juvenile fish.

We are witnessing a general global trend of declining fish populations across all the world’s seas, along with a decrease in the number of species found in the wild. Monitoring the composition and abundance of juvenile fish throughout the annual cycle can serve as a highly useful indicator of the status of fish populations.

Juvenile fish and early life stages tend to gather in nursery areas—specific zones of freshwater, marine, or brackish environments where young fish remain after hatching, as these areas offer more food, fewer predators, and better conditions for growth. Such habitats are crucial because they produce a significant portion of the adult fish that later become part of larger fish populations. The Bojana River estuary is considered one of the most important nursery areas in the region.

The project team will sample juvenile fish using a specially designed beach seine net, tailored for the effective collection of fish larvae and juvenile individuals. Due to the mesh size, the net does not target adult specimens, and because of its smaller overall dimensions, it poses no threat to the juvenile fish population within the nursery area.

In addition, during the annual monitoring campaigns, the Institute will measure physical water parameters in the lower part of the Bojana River in order to monitor the intrusion of saline seawater into the riverbed—known as the salt front, or the boundary beyond which the water is no longer consistently salty.

Image The CRADLES project (Creating Resilient Areas to Develop Lifecycles and Ecosystem Services) is a collaborative initiative within the EU IPA ADRION Programme, focusing on a holistic approach to the restoration and conservation of spawning and nursery habitats across the Adriatic-Ionian region. These areas are of key importance for the survival of numerous aquatic species (both vertebrates and invertebrates), as well as for the overall health of ecosystems. Unfortunately, they are increasingly threatened by various ecological and human-induced pressures.

 

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