CIRCOLO LEGAMBIENTE VAL LEMME odv: #WFMD 2016 E #DAMNATION A TASSAROLO

domenica 22 maggio 2016

#WFMD 2016 E #DAMNATION A TASSAROLO

Ancora una bella serata quella trascorsa venerdi' 20 maggio al Castello di Tassarolo.
Dopo la toccante testimonianza di coloro che hanno vissuto e vivono tuttora la tragedia dell'Eternit di Casale Monferrato e le profonde riflessioni formulate dopo la visione del film Un posto sicuro, venerdi' sera è stato affrontato il tema della continuità fluviale attraverso la visione del film DamNation. Il film che abbiamo scelto narra la vicenda di un gruppo di ragazzi che con caparbietà hanno lottato perché il governo federale degli Stati Uniti finanziasse il programma di abbattimento delle dighe obsolete, in disuso e/o economicamente non più convenienti. I panorami mozzafiato dei canyon e delle foreste statunitensi finalmente liberati dai mostri di cemento e l'emozione di rivedere i fiumi tornare a vivere e a essere ripopolati da pesci e flora hanno catturato il pubblico presente in sala.

Aldo Orlando, pescatore NoKill per passione e professore di educazione fisica per lavoro, ha introdotto la serata dedicata al World Fish Migration Day 2016, la giornata mondiale per la sensibilizzazione al problema della presenza di dighe, sbarramenti e captazioni lungo i bacini idrici, alla base della biodiversità dei nostri fiumi e mari.

DAM NATION

Good evening! Tonight we're glad to introduce you this movie which remarkably describes in pictures and images a new way of thinking about our rivers, their ecosystems and the use of water.

In three years of work, the film maker crew (directly financed by PATAGONIA) has documented the growing phenomenon of dams demolition in U.S.A. , explaining the historical, practical and environmental reasons supporting these actions.

I am here because, after more than 55 seasons of recreational fishing, I've seen my home waters changed for the worst by human activities.

In our local river systems, which are very tiny compared to the vast river basins in the U.S.A., species such as LASCA ( Chondrostoma genei ), a seasonal migrator, have completely disappeared, mainly because of dam constructions.

During the 1970s, I personally recall countless of LASCA specimens showing their brilliant silver flanks, in the act of spawning, in my hometown river Scrivia, in Serravalle Scrivia . These fishes have now disappeared...

Same fate we can testify for CHEPPIA ( Alosa fallax ), the only anadromous species of Italian rivers, which was regularly caught in Serravalle Scrivia during the month of May, by spinning fishermen until the 1950s. This fish is now present only in some rivers, draining in the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the Po river system: but only in the areas not affected by unpassable dams.

I graduated in Physical Education and I currently teach young people between 11 and 13 year of age. Speaking to them about these subjects, I use to say that “ We are robbed of many things - in our environment - without even knowing that there are lobbies doing it”.

So I strongly encourage all of you to show our kids all the beauties of our country: let them learn to enjoy the outdoors, teach them to love their surroundings and to protect them from speculation and devastation.

Before leaving the duty of speaking to Andrea Mandarino, I would like to leave you with this quote:

“It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world “

So it is better we THINK before ACTING against our environment... Thank you.

***See: http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-is-chaos-theory/

> Principles of Chaos > The Butterfly Effect : This effect grants the power to cause a hurricane in China to a butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico. It may take a very long time, but the connection is real. If the butterfly had not flapped its wings at just the right point in space/time, the hurricane would not have happened. A more rigorous way to express this is that small changes in the initial conditions lead to drastic changes in the results. Our lives are an ongoing demonstration of this principle. Who knows what the long-term effects of teaching millions of kids about chaos and fractals will be?

Il naturalista Andrea Mandarino ha ricordato che molte specie ittiche risalgono i fiumi per riprodursi: salmoni, anguille, lamprede, lasche (Chondrostoma genei), cheppie (Alosa fallax ) ecc. incontrano ostacoli impossibili da superare, lungo il difficoltoso e strenuante percorso di risalita dei fiumi. Ha spiegato quali sono le specie più a rischio, le loro necessità in merito al luogo di riproduzione, il viaggio che percorrono, il tipo di ostacoli che incontrano, le pratiche buone (poche) e nocive (troppe) che l'essere umano realizza lungo i bacini fluviali e l'impoverimento della biodiversità dei nostri fiumi.