Danube Sturgeon Task Force 2 nd Meeting. Tulcea, Romania, August Minutes of the meeting

Transcription

1 Danube Sturgeon Task Force 2 nd Meeting Tulcea, Romania, August 2012 Minutes of the meeting With the financial support of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, Priority Area 6 (Biodiversity), the second meeting of the Danube Sturgeon Task Force (DSTF) was held in Tulcea, Romania, between August participants from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Switzerland have attended the meeting. The discussions have focused on the strategy to implement the Sturgeon 2020 program for sturgeon conservation in the Danube River Basin and the adjacent Black Sea (based on Sturgeon Action Plan, adopted in 2005 under the Bern Convention) and further actions required to develop the network accordingly. The first part of the agenda comprised the reporting on the DSTF achievements in the first period since its establishment in January 2012 in Vienna: the current network, internal organization, international connections, the webpage as an interface with the public of the Danube countries, awareness raising activities in the Danube Basin with the support of ICPDR and WWF, the support of ICPDR regarding the improvement of river continuity to restore fish migration, screening of the current sturgeon fishery policy in the Danube Basin, historic and economic aspects related to sturgeon fishery, the DSTF strategy to implement Sturgeon 2020 program. The report on the sturgeon status in the North Western Black Sea and the new guidelines for sturgeon hatcheries culturing for release, emphasized the need to develop the DSTF network in order to improve the inter-linkages with the Black Sea organizations and private hatcheries. The second part of the agenda was devoted to developing further the DSTF strategy, responding to some key issues of the Danube Sturgeon Action Plan (SAP), such as: - Communication activities - Prioritization of socio-economic measures - Research priorities in natural environment - Ex-situ conservation measures - Acquiring political support - Law enforcement and competence building Two working sessions were organized, and the participants, divided in three working groups in each session, arrived to the following conclusions: (1) Communication. The communication concept should address the priorities identified in the DSTF strategy. The communication strategy should set the basic objectives according to each of the target groups that should be reached. According to the current pressures in the

2 Lower Danube, the following priorities have been identified: navigation should be addressed as a special issue; fishermen communities, the general audience at basin level, the hydropower should be considered after evaluating the overall status in the basin. One activity currently under discussion for 2013 is devoting the Danube Day to raise awareness on sturgeon situation. This first will be discussed in the next meeting of the PP EG of the ICPDR and the DSTF can provide support and input once a decision is taken. Furthermore, other channels used to reach public support will be defined after establishing the overall communication strategy, that will be based on the inputs from the other pillars. (2) Socio-economy. CITES requirements to the internal market should be strengthened (by incentives, regulation, control, strengthening fishery associations), making obvious that the revival of sturgeon populations will bring benefit to fishery communities as well (Our Danube, our sturgeons). Licensing system for legal sturgeon fishery (eco-label) should be prepared for introduction once the stocks have recovered and fishing can be reintroduced. In order to reduce illegal fishing, the creation of alternative income sources should be considered at local level, developing small businesses and jobs such as ecotourism, sport fishing, park rangers, ecological education, reforming local market structures in order to increase revenues for local fishermen, adding value to fish and other local products (e.g. processed fish products, home made products, handicrafts, etc.). The local communities, oriented towards conservation and sustainable use of their environmental resources, should be supported in developing their own businesses that can outcompete investors from outside, driven by short-term gains only. The introduction of a community control concept in the Lower Danube countries could also contribute to reduce poaching. Policies need to be designed that help fishermen to adopt sustainable fishing practices with the lowest possible impact on all life stages of sturgeon. Awareness of consumers need to be raised about sturgeon conservation issues, to increase demand for aquaculture caviar and farmed fish products in order to diminish the black market and reduce the pressure on the wild populations. Hatcheries for commercial purpose may be developed with scientific assistance, according to the best available practice, to secure high quality products for the caviar market. (3) Research (in-situ). The research strategy should focus on the identification of key issues for the conservation strategy. More investigations of sturgeon populations and lifecycle of different species are required in the different Danube regions, following a harmonized methodology and aiming to (i) identify and describe, (ii) conserve and protect, (3) restore key habitats. Fish passages to restore river continuity are considered an important topic and detailed strategy to determine the prerequisites must be developed simultaneously to conducting research in the life cycle. New pressures such as climate change and invasive alien species will be considered at a later stage and measures will have to be harmonized with the Danube River Basin Management Plan and European Union strategies.

3 (4) Ex-situ conservation measures. The ex-situ conservation strategy will be developed according to the needs revealed by the in-situ research. The species nearly extinct (e.g. A. nudiventris) require a special rescue program. The long distance migrants reaching the Iron Gates II should be retrieved and secured for future ex-situ conservation measures. Recurring assessment of A. stellatus is needed for the Lower Danube to determine future ex-situ measures; once the connectivity with Middle Danube will be re-established, ex-situ measures should be extended here for all migratory species. The natural population of A. ruthenus existent at the DE-AT border should be assessed. An inventory of existing broodstock in captivity and existing facilities should be conducted to assess the current status. By a joint effort of all Danube countries, new hatcheries should be designed exclusively for conservation they need to be run under scientific supervision to ensure the genetic variability of the juveniles used for restocking (e.g. the sturgeon conservation program from Garonne River, France); such hatcheries should include areas for gradual adaptation to the natural habitat conditions in order to increase the chances of the juveniles to survive in the wild after restocking. The existing experience for restocking programs will represent a valuable asset for the optimization of future programs. A manual to implement the FAO guidelines for hatcheries will be developed for specific regions/conditions, providing a useful support to build appropriate hatcheries. Future harmonization of the existent databases is required in order to link the information within the Danube basin with other international databases. Both in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures require long term financial support. (5) Acquiring political support at local, national and international levels is essential for future implementation of the DSTF strategy. The network of DSTF partners represents a good basis to start developing further contacts. The ICPDR could include future measures for sturgeon monitoring, habitats conservation, analysis of future infrastructure projects (FIPs) impact on sturgeon populations in the Danube River Basin Management Plan; DSTF reporting could be included as a regular item in the ICPDR agenda. Black Sea initiatives, such as the one towards an EU Strategy for the Black Sea Region or Black Sea Synergy, can be used as platform for promoting Sturgeon PAC 6 will communicate the aims of the Sturgeon 2020 programme to European Commission (DG Regio) and other Priority Area Coordinators of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region to promote the integrative approach and to enable cross-sectoral interrelations. Special attention should be addressed to stakeholders with major influence on sturgeon conservation: - Navigation awareness raising about the cumulative impact of navigation projects for long distance migratory fish species; strengthen contacts with EC (DG ENV, MOVE, REGIO), Black Sea Commission, Danube Commission; special attention to prevent/diminish the impact of the current projects on melioration of navigation in the Lower Danube (workshop to discuss the modelling results, consider solutions that are more environmental friendly); - Hydropower the ICPDR guidelines, currently under elaboration, should include a sturgeon check for new hydropower projects in river/stretches that were former sturgeon habitat, specifically as part of the EIA. The introduction of DSTF to PAC 2 (Energy) may be

4 beneficial to initiate a dialogue regarding the mitigation of the impact of future hydropower plants on sturgeon populations and the idea of creating fish passages also suitable for sturgeons in sturgeon potential habitats. The use of structural funds for financing the feasibility study for the fish pass at Iron Gates should be further investigated. - Fishery policy harmonization with the EU Fishery policy, especially in the Black Sea, require strengthening the contacts with DG MARE and identification of possible synergies. The next funding period, , should include measures and adequate funding allocation for sturgeon conservation within the Fishery Funds, DG AGRI, OP ENV, FISH, NRDP; DG Research could also foreseen funding for sturgeon conservation research. The initiation of a sturgeon fishery ban is required in Ukraine, while the existent ones in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia need to be extended until the recovery of stocks. (6) Law enforcement + competence building The analysis revealed a weak implementation of international conventions, i.e. the Bern Convention and the related Danube Sturgeon Action Plan; the EU Directives represent however possible tools to support implementation of the existing conventions and action plans. The harmonization of international and national legislation is still needed; the national laws and regulations represent the tools for implementing international agreements. The legislation on international level is in place, but enforcement is required, especially at the administrative level; strengthening local enforcement organizations and NGOs could contribute to improve the implementation process. To prevent/reduce illegal fishing, key organizations should be involved with the support of World Sturgeon Conservation Society, such as: Black Sea Fisheries, Black Sea Commission, Central, Asian and Caucasian Fisheries, etc, and inter-linkages between national-international organizations should be identified. Capacity building is required in jurisdiction, enforcement agencies, fishermen community, NGOs, management agencies; to improve the current status, training and knowledge exchange based on the existing expertise in different Danube countries and other river basins is envisaged. Based on the conclusions of the working groups, several priorities were identified for the upcoming period such as: - Once a decision is made regarding devoting Danube Day 2013 to the sturgeon, input and support should be provided in order to advertise sturgeon conservation needs at basin-wide level - develop a sub-strategy to secure alternative income sources and improve fish marketing structures for Lower Danube local communities in order to reduce illegal fishing - for in-situ research, the focus will be placed on habitat protection, life-cycle investigation and protection of genetic diversity; special attention will be devoted to the feasibility study for a fish passage at Iron Gates. - the ex-situ research will focus on conducting an inventory on captive broodstock and hatcheries at basin level.

5 - a permanent dialogue is in need to be initiated with international governmental organizations (ICPDR, EC) in order to advocate for urgent sturgeon conservation measures (such as those linked to current navigation projects) and to secure proper funding for the future. - enforcement of CITES requirements at national level. The submission of a motion requiring the conclusion of a basin-wide agreement on sturgeon fishery ban was postponed until acquiring the critical political support at basin level. The coordination of DSTF for a longer period of time was discussed (3 years) in order to ensure more time to the coordinator to create the linkages with the appropriate levels and represent DSTF on constant basis; the mandate of the current coordinator was extended for the new period. The 3 rd meeting of the DSTF was not set yet, as funding still needs to be secured, and the result will be announced at a later date. The documents will be circulated to all the members in order to receive feedback and support.