The fishermen of the river Limia will have their first refuge in Bande

The fishermen and walkers of the Limia, in the parish of Nigueiroá de Bande, have a renovated shelter where they can take refuge from the weather conditions. The director general of Natural Heritage, Belén do Campo, accompanied by the mayoress of Bande, Sandra Quintas, travelled this week to Ponte Soutelo to see the result of the work on the river refuge where the Regional Ministry of Environment, Territory and Housing has invested 40,000 euros in the framework of the European project “Fronteira Esquecida Limia-Lima”.

The aim of this action is to enhance the value of the Limia river basin and to promote sporting and tourist activities in the Baixa Limia-Serra do Xurés Natural Park. The refurbishment consisted of improving the state and recovery of the hut which, in addition to being used as a refuge by those involved in river fishing, is also a tourist landmark on the route parallel to the river Limia.

The refurbishment has been well received by the fishermen’s collective. A few weeks ago, the Clube O Peixe de Bande thanked the Council for the interest shown in the recovery of the refuge and confessed to being pleasantly surprised by the quality of the materials and the time taken to complete the work. “Although from the Club we tried to keep it as clean as possible, such a rehabilitation was unthinkable for us because of the economic cost”, said Rafael Serrano, president of O Peixe, who stressed that from now on it will be used both by fishermen when the weather is not favourable, and as a place for recreation and meeting. “We will try to make it an information point for everything related to the preserve and all the fauna that lives in the river and its banks,” he said.