Hrvatski
Hrvatski

Projects

Monstur

Project name: Establishing, testing and launching a transboundary system for Monitoring Sturgeons, to manage and safeguard migratory fish in the Danube River Basin – MonStur

Program: Interreg Danube Region

Start date: April 1, 2025.

Duration: 3 years

Funds from the Interreg fund: 80% (1,657,573.20 EUR)

Official website: https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/monstur-in-the-danube

Project description: The MonStur project addresses one of the key ecological challenges in the Danube region: the loss of migratory fish, particularly sturgeon. The sturgeon are highly endangered worldwide, mainly due to overfishing for their prized meat and caviar, but also due to the disruption of river continuity by hydroelectric power plants, which prevents their upstream migration for reproduction.

The main objective of the project is to establish a transboundary sturgeon monitoring system that will connect the countries of the Danube basin. This will ensure the protection of sturgeon populations, their habitats and the ecological corridor, and will improve the integration of data crucial for policy development and conservation.

The MonStur project will achieve the following specific objectives:

  • Establish a common transnational sturgeon monitoring system to facilitate cooperation between experts and other data users
  • Encourage joint governance through engagement and cooperation of policymakers, and increased involvement of relevant stakeholders
  • Develop monitoring methods that will complement the knowledge of key sturgeon habitats, especially in the Middle and Lower Danube, and help develop new conservation policies targeting the most critical habitats.

Data collection on the presence of sturgeon and their suitable habitats will be carried out at eight research sites in Croatia. Innovative methods such as eDNA (environmental DNA) and sonar will be used.

The project is led by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests of Romania, in cooperation with 12 institutions from Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. The Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute participates in the project as an associated partner of the Croatian Institute for Environmental and Nature Protection.