site.btaWWF Releases 30,000 Critically Endangered Sturgeons Into Danube Near Vidin

More than 30,000 critically endangered sturgeons were released into the Danube River near the village of Gomotartsi (Northwestern Bulgaria) by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Friday to mark the World Migratory Fish Day on May 23.

The fish belong to the critically endangered species Acipenser gueldenstaedtii and were transported from Austria, Vladimir Ivanov, Head of Communications at WWF Bulgaria, told BTA. According to the organization, the sturgeons were raised in a floating hatchery in Austria that also serves as a genetic reserve for specimens of verified Danube origin.

The event was attended by representatives of the Austrian University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Vidin Regional Directorate for Food Safety, and the Montana Regional Environment and Water Inspectorate.

Commenting on the project’s work with local communities, Ivanov said cooperation with people living and working along the river has improved considerably. “We are working more actively and effectively together. The results are much more positive, and there is far greater dialogue. People are increasingly returning accidentally caught sturgeons to the river and reporting such cases, something that rarely happened before. So there is real progress,” he told BTA.

Ivanov added that the next release campaign is expected at the end of June, while preparations for the autumn phase of the initiative are already underway. Current efforts remain focused on river-based activities, including the use of an innovative breeding vessel for sturgeons of confirmed Danube origin.

The release is part of the international LIFE-Boat4Sturgeons project, funded under the European Union’s LIFE programme. The long-term initiative, which runs until 2030, aims to restore Danube sturgeon populations by releasing a total of 1.6 million fish from all native Danube species into the river. WWF noted that of the six sturgeon species that historically inhabited the Danube, the ship sturgeon and the Atlantic sturgeon have already disappeared. The remaining four species are listed as endangered or critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.