Tag Archives: danube river basin

Romania lingers under flood warnings

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UPI

BUCHAREST, Romania, March 8 (UPI) — Hydrologists watching the levels of the Danube River in Romania extended flash-flood warnings through the end of the week, officials said.

Romania’s National Hydrology and Water Management Institute issued flash-flood warnings through Friday for the Danube River basin, the news agency Financiarul reports.

Rain in southern Europe caused the Danube to break its banks. Local officials last week said the river level crested more than 17 inches above the 18-foot warning level.

Portions of southern Romania were under more than 20 feet of water and civil defense teams were deployed to project levees and drainage facilities.

Flooding was expected to ease as the rainy weather moved through the region, though percolation to the ground water extended flood concerns.

Light rain was prevalent in the region last week, with a slight chance of snow forecast for Bucharest for the rest of this week.

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Danube cleanup plan adopted by 14 nations

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AP

VIENNA — Fourteen countries and the European Commission have adopted a cleanup plan for the Danube River and its tributaries.

The Danube flows 2,857 kilometers (1,775 miles) from southern Germany’s Black Forest to the Black Sea and is polluted in some parts. Some 83 million people in 19 countries live in its basin.

The Danube River Basin Management Plan adopted Tuesday aims, among other things, to reduce organic and nutrient pollution from settlements and agriculture. It also includes measures to protect and reconnect wetlands.

Participating countries are Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The plan calls for the cleanup measures to be in place by 2015.

On the Net: International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River: http://www.icpdr.org/

[Ed-Apols for full quote]

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Romanians protest lift of sturgeon fishing ban

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WWF

Bucharest, Romania – A government decision to overturn a ten-year ban on the fishing of wild sturgeon in the Danube River basin drew protests in the capital this week, led by WWF and a contingent of local NGOs.

The controversial legislation, allowing sturgeon fishing for purposes other than restocking, was adopted in September by the Agriculture and Environment Committees of the Romanian Parliament. The new law in effect legalizes fishing of sturgeons for commercial purposes.

Meanwhile, some Romanian politicians are calling for the elimination of the current ban on gillnet and trawler fishing in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve.

To counter this destructive decision, 34 Romanian environmental NGOs, including “Save the Delta” Association and WWF, organized a bitter protest in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday.

“The new fishing law practically throws away the EUR 4 billion spent by the Romanian Government for the sturgeon restocking programme, which was developed during the last four years,” said Lumini?a T?nasie, Director of WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Romania. “If the 200,000 young sturgeons which were bought for restocking the Danube, are not given the necessary time to mature and reproduce naturally, the sturgeon fisheries will not be able to recover, and both the economical and the ecological loss will be enormous.”

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Defending the Danube

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International Rivers | December 15, 2008 | Suzanne Ebert

Crossing through ten countries and draining the territory of 19 countries, the Danube is the most international river in the world. In addition to the 83 million people living in the river basin, the Danube is home to globally important species of flora and fauna.

In its 2,780 km course from Germany’s Black Forest to its outlet at the Black Sea, the Danube basin supports a diverse system of natural habitats and unique biological diversity. The Danube River Basin has more than 100 different species of fish – including five sturgeon species – and it is home to rare birds like the white pelican, white tailed eagle and black stork. …

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