Review of bycatch prevention and mitigation measures for sturgeons Support document for the implementation of the pan-European action plan for sturgeons
Author: Directorate-General for Environment (European Commission)
Redactor: Gessner, Joern ; Striebel-Greiter, Beate
Year: 2025
Country: EU
Language: English
Type: Text Document
Keywords: bycatch, prevention, mitigation, sturgeons
Description: ALT: The eight native sturgeons found in Europe are under massive threat of extinction. Anthropogenic pressures such as historic overexploitation and in some regions continued illegal fishing are primary reasons steep population declines. Damming, navigation, water abstraction, pollution and climate change also continue to impact the suitability of their habitats. Historically, the presence of sturgeon has been documented so far in at least 78 river systems throughout the European continent but today their presence is limited to approximately 15 river systems with almost all populations depending on active recovery measures. Bycatch of sturgeon in a variety of marine, estuarine and freshwater fisheries poses a significant and so far often neglected threat to the recovery of critically endangered populations in Europe, as it removes rare individuals from already very small remaining populations. This impact is especially pronounced in late maturing ad long lived species such as sturgeons while the exact dimension of the impact is unknown due to the fact that, similar to other protected and endangered species, the real numbers of individual sturgeons accidentally caught in the diverse fisheries and their fate remains unknown.
Copyright: No (Public Domain or Creative Commons)