The Danube River fauna has been further enriched this month, as sturgeon stocking events continue in 2020. Restocking of sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) was managed by NAIK-HAKI, a project partner in MEASURES, and the event took place at Baja (Hungary) between 13-15th May, 2020.

In total, 1,500 fish were restocked on these three days. The fish were more than 1 year old of age and have good survival chances in the wild. The individuals were also tagged with T-bar plastic anchor tags (yellow), to enable identification in case of recapture by in-situ surveys, or anglers. A recapture survey is planned at the end of 2020 in Hungary, this will provide further insight about the success of restocking.

"Conservational restocking is one of many necessary actions to save endangered fish. In conjunction with the provision and restoration of habitat it is essential to increase the number of animals of species and populations on the very brink of extinction", Thomas Friedrich, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.

Last year, another 5000 juvenile sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) were released in Hungary, in the MEASURES project. Until now, 7800 sturgeons were restocked in Hungary and Romania during the project.