Dam Removal in Europe

Worldwide Sturgeons are the most endangered group of species, according to the IUCN who regularly publishes the global red list assessments. So it is clear that sturgeon need our help! Although once widespread in many rivers in Europe such as the Rhine or the River Po, the only river where sturgeon still spawn (reproduce) naturally today is the Lower Danube River, where sturgeons can still migrate freely between the Black Sea and more than 800km upstream crossing borders of Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.  But also here sturgeon stocks have been depleted due to massive overfishing in the past and their survival is at threat. Today sturgeon fishing is banned and WWF is engaged along the Danube to work with authorities to enforce these bans. Now we got a unique chance to support sturgeon in the Danube, and you can help. We are offered the unique opportunity to buy and release at least 15.000 Beluga sturgeon in Bulgaria, close to an island in the Danube, located almost in the middle between the Bulgarian capital Sofia, and the Romanian capital Bucharest. The little sturgeon (10-15cm in size) will be a couple of weeks old when they are leased, and they will start their journey downstream towards the Black Sea, where they will spend a couple of years until they grow large (around 1-2m) and old enough to come back to breed again. The release of these endangered fish, can directly contribute to their survival but it is also an important event to raise awareness and engage stakeholders from politicians to local fishermen, from fisheries agencies to police, from Water and Environmental Authorities. All of them are needed to engage in sturgeon conservation. A joint activity of actually releasing little sturgeon with their own hands is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everybody. All the fish will be tagged with CWT (coded wire tags), allowing identification of these fish if they are recaptured later by other institutions or in different countries.. Additionally the tagging of released sturgeon will eventually contribute to further information of migration patterns of these fish and informs further conservation actions such as protection of habitats and migration corridors.