The measures Project  - second half of 2019 - Accomplishments and further planning

After the successful conservational stocking made at the end of the first half of 2019, when 5000 juvenile sterlets (Acipenser ruthenus) were released in Hungary, and more than 1000 of Russian sturgeons (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) in Romania, the MEASURES Team met all together after one year from the start.

The “Sturgeon Team” gathered at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) headquarters in Vienna to summarize the achievements and further planning of the remaining two years of project implementation.

All went to their homeland with good vibes towards important project checkpoints, such as the building site of the sturgeon hatchery that will allow our Hungarian colleagues to start raising their own broodstock in the near future. For sure the next restockings will be provided from their hatchery and will count as direct support for the wild populations. In this activity, the juveniles are reared under artificial and safe conditions to one year of age, before being released into the river.

The summer days offered the ideal opportunity to raise awareness for the sturgeon cause by organising outdoor events. Our Bulgarian colleagues  managed the nature triathlon “Free Danube”. Among participants were residents and visitors of the city of Ruse who took part in this green adventure. Good mood and adventurousness promote responsible behaviour towards the endangered species – the sturgeons.

The Romanian team took part in the RowMania festival, the biggest outdoor water-connected event in Romania, hosting the WWF conference about clear waters, a rowing competition, music concerts and children’s activities, initiated and led by Ivan Patzaichin, a history-making rowing champion and ambassador of water sports.

Synopsis of the project activities to-date were shown in a short movie, for the first time, during these events.

And all this second part materialised towards the biggest conference that was held in the last 30 years regarding the sturgeons. Three days of intense debates, scientific results, best practice projects, failures from the past and further planned researches.

Over 120 specialists from 22 countries, representing 59 organisations have gathered to provide solutions for the white-moustache scales-bearers – the Danube sturgeons.

The three-day meeting has been co-organised by the University of Galați „Dunărea de Jos”, situated in the heart of the Lower Danube in Romania, together with WWF.

Furthermore, in a united effort with the World Fish Migration Fundation we plan to rise the public level of awareness by new emotion-oriented live actions at 2020 World Fish Migration Day that will take place on May 16th next year.

We are looking forward to monitoring the released sturgeons’ growth rate and tracking their routes, the evaluation being scheduled in April 2020.