Fish sampling in the Ibar River in Kosovo
Late August 2023
The Ibar, also known as the Ibër and Ibri (in Albanian), is a large upland river that flows through eastern Montenegro, northern Kosovo and central Serbia, with a total length of 272 km . The river begins Montenegro and enters northern Kosovo, where it leads back into southern Serbia to flow into the West Morava river (part of the Great Morava), a major tributary of the Danube. The Ibar's drainage area is 7,925 square km. We studied it this summer in Kosovo.
In late August 2023 we were invited to participate in a project to research the ecological quality of the Ibar and we concentrated on its fishes. Of course conditions in the river and its tributaries were extremely degraded, incredible and severe pollution problems were documented and they obviously affect the fish! Urban, industrial, farming and other forms of pollution and the destruction of habitats, the many barriers to fish movement and lack of any real love for the river is very sad. Some speceis we thought we'ed encounter were missing, although we did record at least 23 taxa. And, I hope one day we can see a cleaner Ibar, more fish and a people in peace.
These are some snapshots from our mission - incomplete since they are only from my camera. More photos may soon be added. We thank our friends from the University of Pristina for a wonderful collaboration.
THE FISHES
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| Squalius cephalus |
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Squalius cephalus
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Squalius cephalus
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| Lepomis gibbosus |
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| Salmo trutta (below Ujmani/Gazivoda Dam) |
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| Salmo trutta (main stem tributary of the Ibar, several kms north of Mitrovica). |
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| Phoxinus sp. An adult from cold waters. Minnows in this area could be the native species, perhaps Phoxinus csikii. |
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Phoxinus sp. We are careful about putting names to fishes without molecular confirmation.
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Phoxinus sp.
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| Barbus balcanicus, a big one in the main stem of the mid Ibar. |
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| Gobio obtusirostris |
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| Romanogobio uranoscopus, we caught only two specimens in the mid section near the border. |
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| Cobitis elongatoides |
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| Cobitis sp. Another problematic group to identify, especially if there is a chance of translocated species from nearby ecoregions. |
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| Sabanejewia balcanica |
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| Barbus balcanicus |
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Perhaps Vimba vimba. This is the only specimen we managed to collect! We expected more of this species in the mid section, this one is from near the border.
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| A definate Chondrostoma nasus |
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| Rutilus rutilus |
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| Rutilus rutilus |
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| Rhodeus amarus |
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| The very common and widespread Barbatula barbatula. |
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| Crayfish species |
THE PLACES
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| Mitrovica and the Ibar |
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Ibar in Mitrovica, downstream of the city, very polluted!
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Sitnica in Mitrovica, immediately before the city, severe pollution! No fish.
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Trying to find the river....a Mad Max landscape, Mitrovica.
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| City trash tipped into the river in Mitrovica. |
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| Ibar dowstream of the confluence with the Sitnica in Mitrovica |
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| Ibar near Mitrovica, extreme pollution and an over-growth of alge on the rocky substrate. |
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| Ibar in Mitrovica immediately below Mitrovica Artificial Lake. Now there is no fish pass here. We collected 11 speceis of fish, non can pass upstream. |
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| Mitrovica Artificial Lake is created by two barages on the Ibar. This water body is an attractive addition to the city and is really beautiful but there was no provision made for fish passes, so we have a serious barrier stopping the entire mid Ibar populations of fishes to enter the upstream area of the Ibar. |
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| Ibar in Mitrovica (dowstream of the weir forming the Artificial Lake). |
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| Ibar in Mitrovica, the downstream weir. This is the BIGGEST problem for migratory fish in the mid Ibar. |
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| Llapi tributary in Central Kosovo, near Balshaj - also very polluted. Trout farm upstream, dead rainbows floating down river. The two fishermen in the picture are HEROES!!! |
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| Mountain tributary near Ujmani/Gazivoda Dam. The barriers here are a significant problem; this stream had no fishes. |
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| The field team included Dimitris Zogaris (Univ. Thessaly) and our good friends Linda Grapci-Kotori and Donard Geci from University of Pristina. |
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| Main stem of the Ibar upstream of Mitrovica (river-side restaurants near Koshtovë ) . This is a fantastic area with rapids and quite clean waters. Unfortunately many fish species we expected area missing here. |
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| Main stem of the Ibar, many kilometers north of Mitrovica (near Ibarska Slatina). Still polluted and an over-growth of algae on rocky bottom. |
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Main stem of the Iber in the north of Kosovo, near Rëvatskë, the northernmost surveyed site (near the border). This area still shows moderate pollution from upstream but the fish fauna is quite rich.
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Small tributary in the north of Kosovo.
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| Landscape in the south of Kosove, near one of the Sitnitsa tributaries, the upland part of the Drenice river. |
