Brussels, 03/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 May, WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, hailed the decision by Bulgaria to ban fishing for sturgeon in the Danube. This fish, highly prized for its caviar, is on the brink of extinction. The one-year ban, imposed in March, “is a great step for Danube sturgeons”, says WWF in a press release. This “is really giving the sturgeons a break”, it adds. The ban is the first imposed by Bulgaria and the Fisheries and Aquaculture Agency has indicated that it would like to extend it for five years from 2012.
Romania imposed a 10-year ban on its side of the river in April 2006. However, as the Danube serves as a national border between Bulgaria and Romania, this ban could not have any impact if fishermen on the other side were still catching the fish, WWF points out.
The Black Sea is one of the most important sturgeon fisheries in the world, second only to the Caspian Sea. The Danube estuary is one of the most important habitants of the giant Beluga sturgeon. This migratory fish is threatened with extinction as a result of overfishing for its precious caviar, which can cost more than €6,000 per kilo, WWF says.
Until 2007, quotas for caviar export existed and were distributed among Lower Danube countries. In 2007, however, it was realised that population numbers had dropped drastically. This led to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to ban caviar exports from natural fish populations. Officially, most of the caviar from Lower Danube countries in circulation today is from aquaculture stock. But between 2000 and 2005, authorities seized over 12 tonnes of illegal caviar in the EU. (L.C./transl.rt)