From September 17 to 22, experts from the “LIFE for Danube Sturgeons” team from Romania and Bulgaria, together with representatives of stakeholders from Ukraine, took part in a course on “Habitat and Behavioural Assessment of Migratory Fish”, organised by the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development in Tulcea, Romania.
During the course, the participants shared experience and good practices in studying and analysing Danube sturgeons, their habitat and how to identify sturgeons’ feeding, wintering and breeding grounds. One of the topics was the identification of the six native Danube sturgeon species, where the two training videos, recently developed as part of the “LIFE for Danube Sturgeons” project, were screened.
Later on, at a field trip, the participants tested the monitoring tools used by the Danube Delta Institute, as well as, the high-technology methods used for screening, tagging and tracking sturgeons in a fish farm Horia, Tulcea.
The course was a very successful example for a cross-border cooperation between sturgeon experts and between EU-funded projects. The event was organised under the MEASURES project (http://www.interreg-danube.eu/measures) with information materials developed by the “LIFE for Danube Sturgeons” project.
MEASURES aims to create ecological corridors by identifying key habitats and initiating protection measures along the Danube river and its main tributaries. In this sense, sturgeons and other migratory fish species will act as flagship species in support of the goal.
Link to the training video: Identification of the Wild Danube Sturgeons
Link to the training video: Identification of Exotic Sturgeon Species and Hybrids
