site.btaWWF Environmentalists to Release 1.6 Mln Sturgeons into Danube

Environmental watchdog WWF will release 1.6 million sturgeons into the Danube River. The organization said in a press release on Tuesday that the European Commission has called on the EU member states to increase their efforts to address poaching and smuggling in order to preserve the small populations of sturgeon left on the continent. Sturgeons outlived dinosaurs, but today they are among the most endangered group of animals in the world. The Danube used to be home to six sturgeon species, but nowadays only four are found in the river. One of them, the sterlet, has endangered status, and the beluga, the starry sturgeon and the Russian sturgeon are critically endangered, WWF said, adding that protecting and restoring their populations are among their main goals.

WWF Sturgeon Initiative leader Beate Striebel said that countries have been failing to take effective measures to deal with the threats facing what is left of the sturgeon populations. The most serious threats are poaching and smuggling, but there is also the development of hydroelectric energy and the changes to riverbeds, which affect fish habitats. "We have already lost the bastard sturgeon in our rivers. Let us keep the other species," Striebel urged.

The sturgeon is a migrating fish which originated 200 million years ago. At present, Europe's last remaining wild sturgeon populations are found in the lower Danube along the border between Bulgaria and Romania. Poaching poses the main direct risk to their survival. Other dangers are the fragmentation and loss of habitats, unwelcome changes in spawning migration, and pollution.

To help preserve the sturgeon, WWF has launched a large-scale project called LIFE-Boat. It will be carried out in seven European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Germany. LIFE-Boat is co-financed by the EU's LIFE programme and involves the efforts of scientists, institutions and environmentalists. It includes a series of conservation measures such as the restocking of young sturgeons into the lower Danube and the Black Sea, working with fishing authorities and raising the awareness of local fishing communities.

WWF's principal objective is to prevent the extinction of the four remaining sturgeon species in the Danube River, Striebel said. The organization plans to create a gene bank and to breed sturgeon of local origin to release it into the Danube in the coming years. WWF considers restocking to be a key method to boost the long-term growth of Europe's sturgeon populations, but the effect will be negligible unless poaching and smuggling are contained in the meantime, the expert said.

In Bulgaria, WWF will take part in regular meetings with law enforcement authorities and fishers to discuss measures to preserve sturgeon populations and the need to declare accidental catch and fishing from stocked areas. WWF experts will visit fishing communities along the lower Danube and the northern part of the Black Sea coast to teach them how to safely release sturgeon by-catch. They will work with competent institutions to minimize poaching levels, which remain disturbingly high.