What We Do · 03
Sturgeon
Sturgeon are among the oldest vertebrates on the planet — they have barely changed in over 200 million years. Six species live in the Danube and the Black Sea, all of them severely endangered; two of them — the beluga and the Russian sturgeon — have seen their populations collapse due to historical overfishing, poaching and disrupted migration routes.
From Delicacy to Ban
For a long time, Danube sturgeon, and the beluga in particular, were the source of one of the world’s most prized delicacies — black caviar. That very market value is a key reason behind decades of overfishing along the length of the Danube. Today, catching wild sturgeon in Bulgaria is under a standing ban, and most caviar on the market comes from aquaculture — but pressure from poaching remains a real problem.
Blocked Migration Routes
Sturgeon are anadromous — they are born in rivers, live in the sea, and return upstream to spawn. Dams, barriers and alterations to riverbeds cut off these routes and prevent the fish from reaching their historical spawning grounds. For a species that needs a free-flowing river for hundreds of kilometres inland, even a single barrier can cut off access to an essential breeding area.
The SturNet Project
Through the SturNet project (Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin 2021–2027), where the Foundation acts as coordinator, we work together with partners from Bulgaria, Romania, Türkiye, Moldova and Georgia to monitor sturgeon populations. The team in Türkiye fitted acoustic transmitters to ten sturgeon in the Sakarya River to track their actual movements between the river and the sea, while environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis makes it possible to detect the presence of sturgeon without catching or disturbing the animals. The results and methods were also presented at a national awareness event in Thessaloniki and at a transnational project meeting in Chișinău. The goal is to build a fuller picture of where the fish actually move, so that protection can be targeted precisely where it is needed rather than guessed at.