Today, this amazing animal is threatened with extinction. It has survived the dinosaurs but it is now facing the combined dangers of illegal
fishing (mainly for its caviar), water pollution, and the fragmentation of its habitat (by the construction of a hydroelectric power plant and by the many dams along the river), blocking its route towards the source of the river. The best chance to see those Danube Dinosaurs is to visit the Danube Delta Museum in Tulcea. Kenneth and Susann admired the majesty of these “goldfish” (as the fishermen here call them) while learning more about them.
In 2012, the Danube Sturgeon Task Force (DSTF) came to their rescue. The DSTF was formed in the framework of EU’s Danube Strategy Priority Area 6 “Biodiversity” by a broad coalition of European and international actors recognising that the Danube sturgeon could only be saved if people all along the Danube acted together. They work closely with the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and have recently adopted a Sturgeon Strategy to save the fish.
The fact that their work is of outmost importance was confirmed recently at the European Sturgeon Conference, organised by the Austrian EU Presidency beginning of July.
The messages were alarming as the urgency of actions to prevent the species from being extinct. Read more about it here.
Long live to the Danube Dinosaur!