20 Jun
2006 - Vienna, Austria/Bucharest, Romani A Romanian
ban on the commercial fishing of all wild sturgeon
species for the next ten which came into force
on 4 May 2006 has to be followed up by other
countries in the region in order to restore declining
sturgeon populations in the Danube river basin.
The best occasion to initiate
such decisions in Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro
and Ukraine is the upcoming CITES (Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora) meeting of the north-western
Black Sea and Lower Danube Sturgeon region, which
will take place in Sarulesti, Romania, from 2122
June 2006.
The Black Sea once harboured
some of the most productive sturgeon populations.
Sturgeons are fished mainly for caviar, although
their meat and skin are also widely used in the
region. Poorly regulated fisheries have caused
severe decline in populations due to overfishing,
which almost entirely disrupted the fish species'
natural spawning in the Danube River.
We urge Bulgaria, Serbia and
Montenegro and Ukraine to follow Romanias lead
and take steps to ensure adequate, transboundary
conservation and management measures in order
to promote long-term positive effects on the Danube
sturgeon populations, says Dr Christine Bratrich,
Freshwater Team Leader for WWF International's
Danube-Carpathian Programme.
Mobilizing regional efforts
for a transboundary approach for the management
and conservation of Danube sturgeon, WWF facilitated
and launched an action plan for the recovery,
protection and conservation of endangered sturgeons
in 2005. The action plan is the product of a joint
effort of regional experts from Danube countries
the plan has been published by the European
Council and endorsed by the Bern Convention. Its
aim is to raise public awareness and to create
a common framework for the implementation of urgent
measures. The immediate and substantial decrease
in fishing pressure through the Romanian ban is
a good first step in the right direction. Furthermore,
the International Commission for the Protection
of the Danube River (ICPDR) included sturgeon
among the issues to be discussed and integrated
into the management planning process for the Danube
river basin.
Nevertheless, the path towards
safeguarding the producer of valuable caviar is
long. Around 450 fishermen occasionally catch
sturgeons every year in Romania. Caviar ranges
in retail value from 300/kg at unofficial markets
to 6,000/kg in luxury sales outlets. Safeguarding
local livelihoods and alternative sources of income
is crucial for the successful implementation of
the ban on commercial sturgeon fishing.
Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and
Montenegro and Ukraine are parties to CITES and
have agreed to implement the Regional Strategy
for the Conservation and Sustainable Management
of Sturgeon Populations of the north-western Black
Sea and Lower Danube River. WWF calls for coherency
with the agreements signed, and urges the signatory
parties to act and engage in action in accordance
with international conventions on sustainable
and sound management of sturgeon resources.
END NOTES:
Research on age structure
of sturgeons captured in Romania performed in
the past five years revealed a critical decrease
in the number of sturgeons born during 110001999
that survived to sustain the population. Due to
this, only eight specimens of adult Danube sturgeons
were captured in 2005 in Romania. Considering
the alarming data revealed by fishery scientists,
as well as the reported decrease in catches (from
37.5 tons in 2002 to 11.8 tons in 2005 ), the
Romanian authorities adopted unilateral conservation
regulations on 4 May 2006. By a common Order of
the Romanian Ministries of Environment and Agriculture,
the government issued a ban on commercial fishing
of all the wild sturgeon species for the next
ten years.
Status, trends and management of sturgeon and
paddlefish fisheries is a study done by researchers
from the Pew Institute for Ocean Sciences, published
in Fish and Fisheries no. 6, 2005. The study shows
how all major sturgeon fisheries have surpassed
peak productivity levels, with 70% of major fisheries
posting recent harvests <15% of historic peak
catches and 35% of the fisheries examined crashed
within 7-20 years of inception.
