The European Commission has called on member states to increase their efforts to tackle poaching and illegal trafficking in order to protect the few remaining sturgeons on the continent. Although they outlived the dinosaurs, today they are the most endangered group of animals in the world. Stoyan Mihov from the environmental organization WWF speaks to FACTI on the topic.
- Mr. Mihov, sturgeons in the Lower Danube are disappearing. This is indicated by a new WWF report. What are the main reasons?
- Although it sounds very clichéd, the reasons are really complex. It is difficult to point out the most serious of them, but the common to all the problems they face is sturgeons, is that they originate from man. For me, the first thing is the destruction of sturgeon habitats through the construction of the Iron Gates hydroelectric power plants, the damming of the river and the drying up of the lakes around the Danube. Water pollution and the destruction of the sturgeon's food base have also played a key role. Of course, we cannot fail to mention the excessive fishing, the purpose of which is the extraction of black caviar over the past century. In recent years, when sturgeon fishing has been banned in all Danube countries, poaching has prevented the recovery of populations.
- What is the penalty for poachers if they are caught?
- It is difficult for me to answer this question, since I am not an expert in this field. Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask the law enforcement authorities (IARA) for a correct and professional answer?
- How many species of sturgeon are there in the Danube?
- Historically, six species of sturgeon have been found in the Danube River - blue sturgeon, Russian sturgeon, trout, rudd, German sturgeon and stellate sturgeon. The latter two species are now officially extinct in the river, and three of the remaining 4 - blue sturgeon, Russian sturgeon and trout, are critically endangered. This is according to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- What proportion of crimes in the river remain unsolved?
- If we talk only about crimes related to sturgeon in Bulgaria, almost all of them remain unsolved. Although over a thousand illegal sturgeon fishing gear have been confiscated in the Danube River in recent years, the perpetrators remain unknown. The reason for this is that the kermacs are fixed to the bottom of the river and there is no need for a constant human presence. So almost always, when kermacs are found on the bottom of the river by special equipment, there is no human presence around and the owner of the illegal gear remains unknown.
- Traditional baitless hooks (known as “kermacs“) are still widely used in Bulgaria and Romania, although they are prohibited by law. How can we deal with this?
- The kermacs are a really serious problem, mainly in Bulgaria. They are placed on the bottom of the Danube at great depths in the narrows of the river, and so they are a very cruel and serious obstacle for sturgeon fish coming to spawn. The scale of this phenomenon is also evidenced by the number of sturgeons confiscated in Bulgaria in recent years - nearly a thousand, that is, tens of thousands of hooks tied to tens of thousands of meters of rope. Dealing with this problem will not be quick, although there has been a decline in the number of confiscated sturgeons over the past three years. The problem is mainly rooted in the still high demand for caviar and meat from wild sturgeons, which is stimulated by the black market. Given that there are many farms, including in Bulgaria, that legally produce and offer high-quality meat and caviar from various types of sturgeons, we believe that the demand for caviar and meat from wild sturgeons is based more on a lack of awareness of the role and importance of wild sturgeons not only for the protection of biodiversity, but also for the traditional livelihoods on the Danube. In this regard, raising awareness is one of the important approaches to addressing the problem.
- The report lists 1,031 sturgeons as affected. Which country is “leading the race” and where are we?
- 1031 is the minimum registered number of poached sturgeons in the region. Their number is actually much higher, because often the official data we receive on confiscated sturgeons does not include the exact number of specimens, but only the total kilograms - for example, 120 kg of sturgeon, which is inaccurate. This could be one 120 kg sturgeon or 120 1 kg sturgeons. Therefore, we say that the number of confiscated sturgeons is probably much higher. As for the number of unregistered sturgeons at the moment, we cannot even guess. In Bulgaria, we have almost no registered illegally caught sturgeons. For the entire period of the study, we have only three cases - two sturgeons and one Russian sturgeon, which was actually used as "bait" for carp. This lack of established cases of illegally caught sturgeons in Bulgaria is particularly provocative, since there are hundreds of registered cases in Romania and Ukraine. Unfortunately, we cannot assume that there is no illegal sturgeon fishing in Bulgaria, given that nearly a thousand devices specifically designed for catching sturgeon have been confiscated. This rather means that the number of illegally caught sturgeon remains unregistered.
- What are the main hot spots for sturgeon trafficking…
- The official data we have are processed based on the administrative area in which the violations occurred. These areas have traditionally been the same throughout the years for which we have collected data. For Ukraine, these are the areas around the delta and Odessa, but there is also a spread of cases in the interior of the country. In Romania, the traditional “hot spots“ with the most violations detected are in the Danube Delta region, Tulcea district, where the most massive inspections by the Romanian competent authorities are concentrated. In Bulgaria, the hottest spots are along the Danube River, with isolated cases in the capital, and no cases along the sea. In Bulgaria, the “hottest spot” is the Vratsa district, in the Kozloduy town area, where the highest number of confiscated kermacs was registered for all years under review. Another hotspot along the Danube is the Veliko Tarnovo district, in the Belene-Svishtov area.