About sturgeons

The Acipenseriformes live almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting temperature waters above 30th parallel in northern Europe, Asia and North America. Half of the extant number of species occurs in Europe, mostly in the Ponto-Caspian region. Biogeographic analysis suggests that Acipenseriformes originated in Europe and that early diversification took place in Asia.

(www.fishbase.org)

The Acipenseriformes include only 27 species in comparison to 20,000 existing teleost species. For biologists, acipenseriforms are interesting as a group which exists for more than 250 million years, having survived the cataclysmic events that extinguished many other forms of lives; for the public, they are prize exhibits in aquaria and, of course, the source of much prized caviar. Six species of all existing Acipenseriformes are present in waters of Serbia: beluga (Huso huso), Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldensatedtii), ship sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris), stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus), European Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) and sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus).

Distribution of sturgeons in Serbia

Today, Atlantic sturgeon is one of the most threatened freshwater fish species worldwide, while ship sturgeon is very rare in the Danube River Basin and can be found only occasionally in the catches. ?ll other species are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). They are also listed on the Natura 2000 list, on Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, or Bonn Convention) and some species are listed on Appendices II or III of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention). Despite of all these measures, illegal and poorly regulated legal harvesting of these species for their much-prized caviar still goes on and populations are continuing to decline. The major cause for this is the absence of multilateral fisheries management for shared stocks and unsustainable fishing efforts. Solving of this problem should be one of priorities for countries in transition, concerning the high value sturgeon resources have for their socio-economic features. Sturgeon aquaculture development, for both ex-situ protection and diminishment of pressure on natural populations, represents another great possibility for the preservation of these species.

At the end, it should be noticed that the Danube River is the only reverie system in Europe which still bears a reasonable chance of preserving sturgeon biodiversity.

Taken from: Nikcevic, M., Lenhardt, M., Cakic, P., Mickovic, B., Kolarevic, J. and Jaric, I. (2004). Historical review and new initiatives for sturgeon fisheries, aquaculture and caviar production in Serbia and Montenegro. in Otterstad, Oddmund (ed): Releasing development potentials at the Eastern Adriatic, NTNU (www. easternadriatic.com).

Internet presentation was funded by Minstry of Environmental Protection of Republic Serbia. Webdesign & maintenance: Ivan Jarić ijaric@ibiss.bg.ac.yu