RBDD's Musetescu: Fish poaching risks to ruin the Danube Delta

The fish poaching phenomenon risks to ruin the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (RBDD), on Thursday told AGERPRES this body's governor Malin Musetescu, who added that since the commencement of the fish prohibition period this year, the watchdog bodies have seized over 1,400 kilos of fish and over 400 fishing tools, have completed four criminal files and have given fines were worth 33,000 lei (rd 7096 euro). 

Seven of the eight institutions with attributions in fish poaching gave last year 2,462 fines worth 574,600 lei, drafted preliminary documents for 305 criminal files and seized 24.9 tonnes of fish, 166.3 kilos of fish eggs, 16.9 tonnes of crabs and rapane (rapa whelks), 9,123 fishing tools, 89 boats, 63 boat engines, five vehicles and four fuel tanks. 

"These figures demonstrate that we are facing an assault of the criminal actions against the Delta's fish resource. The phenomenon has an unbelievable broadness, and the figures show but 20-30 percent of the reality. The phenomenon risks to get out of total control and basically destroy this corner of the country we put our hopes in, that it would launch in tourism, it would be able to uphold the legitimate need of a better life for its inhabitants. It's serious, because even commercial fisher-persons are caught, too," governor Musetescu said. 

Since the fish ban kicked off on 7 April, the RBDD governor's mobile watchdog drafted the preliminary documents for 4 criminal files, gave fines worth 33,900 lei and seized 888 kilos of fish, 2 boats and 2 boat engines. In the same period, in the strictly protected areas the Reserve's green agents have taken to seize 72 nets whose use is banned in the Delta, bearing 96 kilos of fish. 
Moreover, the integrated control Commissariat in the Danube Delta has seized 360 fishing tools, one boat, one boat engine and 439 kilos of fish. 

"Anywhere else around thew world, at such figures the poaching would have been eradicated for good. Here, it looks that it felt no serious hit. If we don't have a common attitude against this phenomenon, and here I'm talking about the local population and the authorities, there will be no future in the Delta, because without the fish resource, there is no life in the Delta," governor Musetescu stressed. 

He added that a draft law exists by which the integrated control Commissariat in the Delta attached to the RBDD Administration is abolished, and the only entity with verification abilities in fish poaching will be the Danube Delta Police Service (SPDD). 

The mackerel is a sturgeon species whose capture has been forbidden in the Romanian territorial waters ever since 2006, following the decline in the populations of these species. In parallel, the Romanian authorities have conducted several actions to restock the Danube with baby sturgeons. AGERPRES .