Reconnecting the river for migratory fishes

One of the 74 two-monthold beluga sturgeons from this year’s natural recruitment, captured, tagged and released back in the river on June 19, 2008, at Danube River km 118, in Romania, by the Danube Delta Sturgeon Research Group staff Marian Paraschiv and Marian Iani.

A new project proposal aims to reconnect the Lower and Middle stretches of the Danube River, which are currently separated from each other by the Iron Gate dams. The project, entitled ‘Reconnecting the Danube River – the development of economically and ecologically sustainable solutions for managing a natural asset of strategic regional importance’, includes institutions from Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Serbia and will run from 2009 to 2011.

Large dams alter river conditions and have significant adverse impacts on natural habitats. When designed and built without adequate attention to natural river functioning, dams cut a river into ecologically isolated compartments, not allowing for the free movement of species. Migratory fishes, such as sturgeons, are particularly badly hit, being unable to move upstream or downstream between their spawning grounds and areas used at other times in their life cycle. The impacts of large dams on the Danube have resulted in catastrophic decline of most of the river’s sturgeon species that are now endangered, with significant regional economic impact – notably on the productivity of Danube fisheries.

The project’s activities will focus on transnational studies, sharing knowledge, a feasibility assessment of technical requirements, and will contribute directly to the achievement of the EU Water Framework Directive. However, the problems to be overcome are complex, requiring action by a range of stakeholders in many countries. Only concerted transnational cooperation can bring about the necessary improvements.

Kirstie Shepherd is a freelance journalist living in Vienna and has called the Danube River Basin home since 2000.