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Starting this week, no fisherman from the Danube Delta is allowed to catch pike, one of the most valuable fish species in the reserve, as a result of the prohibition order published on Friday in the Official Journal, co-signed by the ministries of Environment and Agriculture.
The Delta administration had asked late last year that the pike be protected in January-February, when it spawns, and according to the order signed by the two ministries, the capture of specimens of this species is now prohibited, until March 20.
A novelty brought by this year's banning order consists in the fact that, on the territory of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, outside the prohibition periods, recreational and sport fishing activities involving four valuable species in decline, pike, shad, catfish and carp, are allowed provided that the respective fisherman only keeps one specimen per day, but no more than three kilogrammes, of a single species.
The fishing prohibition period this year, in the Romanian waters, will be from April 9 to June 7, including, and in the waters that represent the state border, from April 24 to June 7, including.
From 2018 until this year, fisherman in the Delta are no longer allowed to retain any specimens of the pike, shad, catfish and carp species, as a measure to protect the declining fish resource.
Sport fishermen protested last year in front of the Delta administration headquarters because of this measure and asked to be allowed to retain some catches, arguing that they are being discriminated against.
In order to have access to the fish resource in the Delta, these fishermen do not pay any money, but they have the obligation to obtain the permit issued by the Delta administration free of charge.
According to the data provided to AGERPRES by the Governor of the Reserve, Gabriel Marinov, last year, 133,280 fishing permits were issued for sport and recreational fishing activities.
After the elimination of the sport fishing tax, according to law no. 1/2017, the statistics of the Tulcea environmental authority showed that, in 2018, the number of sport fishing permits in the Reserve was 48,401, compared to 45,099 issued in 2017, and in 2019 it reached 185,032.
