Rivers Water Life and the Responses of Possible Hydropower’s to be Constructed in the Water Courses of Vjosa, Semani and Drini in Albania Spase Shumka1, Lulezim Shuka2, Sotir Mali3 1 Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania 2 University of Tirana, Albania 3 University of Elbasan, Albania Abstract: The subject of this paper is the water life and energy issue of concerns within Rivers of Vjosa, Semani and Drini the main contributor with freshwater to south eastern Adriatic. The rivers of Albania are mostly natural; they have hardly been dammed or channeled, except for some existing dams in the middle part of the river courses. Therefore these rivers, especially in their upstream part, constitute very valuable natural ecosystems. In Europe, examples are scarce of rivers of this size that still enjoy a natural course. The Albanian rivers generally have a high physical quality. The biochemical quality is probably altered by emissions of domestic or industrial wastewater. On a small territory, Albania has a high diversity of ecosystems and habitats. Within its territory there are maritime ecosystems, coastal zones, lakes, rivers, evergreen and broadleaf bushes, broadleaf forests, pine forests, alpine and sub-alpine pastures and meadows, and high mountain ecosystems. The country is rich in forest and pasture resources. The coastal zones are rich in valuable wetlands. The mountain areas are less populated and have generally remained relatively pristine, with some very valuable ecosystems. Unfortunately they suffer from emigration, and abandoned agricultural areas (including for instance terrace agriculture) are a common landscape. Nowadays there is a general increase of "invasion" to the river systems in Albania and wider area due to the energy increasing demand. In this paper there is presented the potential impact of constructed and possibly to be constructed hydropower's. Beside that there is an EIA procedure developed, the tendency of water life and catchments affection is of a great concern. The fish communities and particularly migrating ones, freshwater or marine will be directly affected. The affect of regulation on fish and fishing is a complicated interaction between a number of physical and biological factors. Key words: Albanian rivers, energy, biodiversity, fish community, vegetation Introduction In the recent years there are intensive interventions in infrastructure and water energy sources of Albania. So, there are very few rivers left without intervention and the concern on fishes is constantly growing. The Mediterranean freshwater ichthyofauna consists of numerous endemic species with a restricted area of distribution (C r i v e l l i & Ma i t l a n d 1995). Based on their distribution, especially that of cyprinids, the Mediterranean catchments may be divided into twelve ichthyological districts (B i a n c o 1990). The district that includes Albania is one of Europe’s least studied and probably least known in respect of fish distribution, taxonomy and evolutionary relationships. There are very few data on rivers fishery of Albania (Crivelli&Shumka, 2007) and what is related to Vjosa Drinos system there are several important zoogeographical and ecological fish particularities. As a procedure the potential environmental effects of individual projects are evaluated prior to dam BALWOIS 2010 - Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia - 25, 29 May 2010 1 construction, but there is a need for consideration of the watershed-scale ecological consequences of hydropower development. This study was an attempt to qualify the extent of river fragmentation by dams in the several Albanian rivers. Using mostly the fishes as main component of the river life we emphasize the sides of negative impact of dam’s construction. Rivers upstream from dams primarily drain several life zones, and out of it we recommend that future dam projects be constructed on already dammed rivers to minimize additional river fragmentation and to protect remaining riverine connectivity. This rapid expansion of hydropower poses a thorny environmental challenge: Although hydropower is generally a low-carbon source of energy, it cannot be considered "sustainable" unless it can minimize the loss of freshwater biodiversity and the disruption of the way of life of communities that depend on free-flowing rivers. Freshwater fishes have evolved to occupy most freshwater habitats, some of which are naturally very harsh. This diversity allows freshwater fishes to occupy habitats that have been greatly altered and allows some altered habitats to support important recreational fisheries (Morrow et al., 2000). Material and Method In the period of years 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, several sampling expeditions in several locations related to the rivers of Vjosa, Semani (Osumi and Devolli) and Drini were conducted. For catching fish, portable engine or battery electro-fishing gear was used. Fish were identified by comparing them with published descriptions (Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes - Maurice Kottelat and J Freyhof), and using the provisional keys in Economidis & Nalbant (1996) and Economidis (2005). Small pieces of fin tissue were preserved in 96% ethanol for DNA analysis, while voucher specimens were labeled, preserved in 5% formaldehyde and deposited in the Laboratory of Zoology, Agriculture University of Tirana. Results and Discussions There are several main, contemporarily independent, river and lake systems in Albania. Listed from north to south they are the Ohrid-Drin-Shkodra system (including River Buna), rivers Mat, Ishëm, Erzen, Shkumbin, Seman (with its two large tributaries, the Devoll and Osum) and Vjosë (River Aoos in Greece), the area around Butrint Lagoon (rivers Bistrica and Pavllo) and Lake Prespa (connected underground with Lake Ohrid (A m a t a j et al. 2007)), all of which drain eventually into the Adriatic Sea. There are also other short rivers flowing directly into the Adriatic. Only a very small area in the northernmost part of Albania (in the mountains Bjeshkët e Namuna; Prokletije in Slavic) belongs to the Danube basin. Rivers are complex ecological systems because of the diversity of aquatic habitats within the river itself and adjacent wetlands (Petts 1990). Looking to the entire countries surface area and its hydrological network, in case of Albania the aquatic habitats are very sensitive systems. Fishes are the main component of the rivers and tributaries at the Albanian continental water net. It is well-known that fish migrate to spawn, feed, reach rearing areas, and seek refuge from predators or harmful environmental conditions such as freeze-up of a lake or stream (Katopodis 1989; Gallagher 1999). In the current stage of an “everywhere damming” the success of upstream migration is limited by the presence of such a barriers that most probably will eliminate the passage of fish. If the migrating fish do make it upstream, they're often too exhausted to spawn. If they don't make it and have to spawn in densely-populated downstream areas, their offspring may be forced to compete for any available rearing habitat. If migration is delayed or halted by barriers, the life cycle may be disrupted resulting in limited populations (Gallagher 1999). In case of Albania this implies in situation many species and particularly to Salmo sp, Barbus sp. and Anguilla anguilla. BALWOIS 2010 - Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia - 25, 29 May 2010 2 Modern land-use practices may have caused various degrees of habitat fragmentation that affect streams. When habitats are fragmented, or destroyed, species come to exist in discrete habitat patches that may only be suitable for a limited range of species or may limit population sizes (Hanski 1994, Hanski 1999). Hence current and future distribution of a species may reflect past and present land use. During our investigation there has been identified species that belong to the genus Salmo, Salaria, Cobitis,Ochinemachileus, Anguilla, Alburnus, Alburnoides, Barbus, Gobio, Squalius, Pelasgus, Pseudorasbora, Pachychilon, Rutilus (Table 1). Table 1. Fishery species for different rivers N River r. s spp parva pictum Numbre Leuciscus Leuciscus cephaslus Rutilus sp. Rutilus Gobio spp. Salaria spp. bipunctatus Barbus spp. spp. Barbus Salmo trutta Alburnoides Pachychilon Pachychilon Pelasgus sp. Pelasgus Cottus gobio gobio Cottus Cobitis teania teania Cobitis Alburnus spp. spp. Alburnus Chondostoma Pseudorasbora Anguilla anguilla Ochinemachileus Ochinemachileus Devol 1 - - - + + - + - + + - + - + + + 10 l Osum 2 + + + + + + + + + 9 i 2 Drini + - - + + - - + + + - + + - + + 10 Shku 3 + - - + + + + - + + - + + - - - 9 mbin 4 Vjosë - - - - + + + ? + - + + + + + ? 9 While Anguila anguila is well known migratory species that is spread all over the river of Vjosa and in many cites of Osumi and Devolli, Salaria fluviatilis, Mugil cephalus and Liza ramada are marine species that are migrating in large distances in Vjosa River. With construction of the Kalivachi dam and without any mitigation measure the new projects that might be installed in more continental part of the river makes impossible the efforts for securing migration pathways. This should be considered in case of Osumi and Devolli particularly for Anguila anguila. There are no real studies on migration distances for the Salmo sp. that are living in upper part of Osumi, in Vjosa part in Greece (Aoos) and Drini tributaries (Seta and Muhuri). Table 2. Quantitative data for the river Drinos Nr. Scientific name Individuals per 100 m2 Individuals per 100 m2 in Site 1 (Bridges) in Site