The Federal Minister for the Environment Sigmar Gabriel welcomed the international action plan on the conservation of the critically endangered European sturgeon which was adopted in Strasburg today. Minister Gabriel pointed out: "Germany will fulfil its obligations as regards the conservation of the sturgeon and start developing a national action plan in 2008. As always, we will rely on our proven cooperation with all interest groups concerned. It will only be possible to secure a future for the sturgeon in Germany if the sectors nature conservation, fisheries and hydrological engineering work together." The international action plan was adopted unanimously at the meeting of the Bern Convention, the pan-European nature conservation convention.
The European sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) originally at home in many rivers draining into the North Atlantic and the North Sea is now only to be found in the French river Gironde and its tributaries. Individual adult specimen have been caught in the North Sea in recent years, giving rise to the hope that the species is not yet entirely extinct.
Core elements of the action plan:
- ex-situ breeding of sturgeon to build up a broodstock sufficiently large for a successful reintroduction;
- conservation and restoration of natural habitats which have been negatively impacted since the middle of the 19th century by hydrological engineering structures and water pollution, thus leading to a sharp decline in stocks;
- development of selective fishery methods to counter the effects of excessively intensive methods and
- a commitment to international cooperation.
As part of a French German cooperation project running since 1996 the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) has supported an initiative with funds provided by the Federal Environment Ministry to build up stocks of the European sturgeon in German rivers and marine areas of the North Sea. The project is part of a long-term strategy to establish self-sustaining stocks of the European sturgeon and contributes to the successful implementation of the action plan. After ten years, successful ex-situ breeding of the European sturgeon was accomplished this spring. The juveniles will form the founding stock for future restocking measures in France and Germany.
"The reintroduction of the sturgeon by Germany is an important contribution to halting the global loss in biological diversity" Minister Gabriel noted.
In May 2008 Germany will host the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity which will also feature marine biodiversity on its agenda. In the run-up to the conference the Federal Environment Ministry has launched a biodiversity campaign to raise public awareness of the value and benefit of biological diversity.