Although it has officially started only 6 months ago, the MEASURES Project have had a lot of activities going and have gathered a lot of people around. Authorities, stakeholders, fish farmers, NGOs and volunteers, they all are important for our work to grow and activities to be done.

Just one month after the official start, most of the team involved in the implementation of the MEASURES project has gathered to know each other and to create a plan and put the project on track. In the half-day spent together in Vienna, we managed to get through the entire project activities, make the plan for the first period and discuss the important issues of eligibility and reporting.

So, by the end of October, a list of stakeholders has had to be prepared for analysis. Why are the stakeholders important? Because we need them to achieve the project’s objectives, we build our work on their feedback and their input is very important for our project future steps.

Meanwhile, in September, Romania hosted a six days training workshop on assessment of migratory fish habitat and behavior. Experts from seven Eastern European countries along the Danube and its tributaries gathered in Tulcea, in order to better study and understand sturgeons, the emblem species of this river. They learned how to identify the sturgeon species in the Danube, studied the various cartographic instruments, sampling eggs, larvae and other sturgeon segments, they also find out how to track and analyze marked fish routes.

The official launch, in Vienna

The MEASURES project was officially launched on the first two days of October. Together with the project partners, also representatives from the relevant institutions for the conservation of sturgeons in Europe were present in Vienna. They all agreed that the solution to make the project grow is the synergy between other projects of the partner institutions and their work, the exchange of experience and expertise, the cooperation to maximize work for migratory fish of the Danube.

The sturgeons were the stars of another meeting that took place this autumn in Bucharest, between 13th and 15th of November - Regional Conference on River Restoration for Inland Fisheries in the Danube River basin and adjacent Black Sea areas. The MEASURES’ team took part at the conference both as participants and as speakers. It was important for our colleagues to be able to convey the messages of our project and to present our ambitious goals.

More than two years to go

The 2018 is almost ending, not without a team very proud of its work. Yet, a lot of time to go for our project, a lot of work to do, people to meet and activities to grow. We will keep you updated with our activities in 2019 as well. Have a great winter time and Happy Hollydays!