It hasnât been more than 10 years since the adherence to the CITES international convention and Romania received excellent grades from the experts of this organism for the sturgeon fishing, which allowed it to become the worldâs number 1 in exporting sturgeon caviar. After becoming the leader, Romaniaâs position is threatened by its internal problems: the poaching and the aberrant laws.
In the Delta, the sturgeons can be caught in the waters of two of the three main branches of the Danube, Chilia and Sfantu Gheorghe. After Sulina, the other branch, became available for ships, more than one century ago, the fish in there disappeared. Actually, in the meantime, the Sulina Branch has become the main artery that connects the Continental Europe and the Black Sea. This is also the reason for which there were no areas on this branch to be chartered for fishing. In the context in which Ukraine builds the Danube - Black Sea high depth channel Bistroe on the Chilia branch, the experts have noticed that the sturgeons didnât appear in this branch either. The infernal noise and the intense activity of the dredges that were deepening the Chilia branch led to a paradox: after swimming in the waters of three branches of the Danube, the sturgeons used only the Sfantu Gheorghe branch for reproduction in 2004. However, in spite of that, their number didnât get smaller, but they are more. This yearâs research showed that the stopping of the works on the Chilia branch led to the regulation of the sturgeonsâ migration on this branch as well.
POACHING The Danube Delta has suffered a lot from the poaching, after the Revolution. Escapeless, the sturgeons were victims as well. Since the big sturgeons that weighed more than 100 kg couldnât be captured and transported without drawing attention, the victims were the smaller species. They were caught during the prohibi
