The World Bank/WBI’s CBNRM Workshop

Case Received: February 5, 1998

Author: Ion Navodaru

Fax: +40 40 524547

Email: icpdd@tlx.ssitl.ro

Due to the political changes in the Eastern Europe, and, after 1990, also in Romania, the development and orientation regarding the environment protection, gave a new perspective on the nature protection development in the Danube Delta. The first action was to stop the impoundment working plans, started in 1960s. Till 1990s, there were up to 100 000 hectares dammed in, and till 1995, about 200 000 hectares were foreseen, for damming in, for agriculture, fish farming and forestry. The development of the planned polderes was ceased, and it was recognised, in view of the marginal profitability of many enterprises, that a number of them were no longer worth operating.

Since 1990s, the surface of 580,000 hectares was declared " Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve" (DDBR) by the Romanian Govern,being a world heritage and a large wet zone, subjected to the Ramsar Convention. The Danube Delta region is the largest wetland from the entire Europe (580,000 ha), situated in the S-E of Romania and at N-W of the Black Sea, encompass between North latitude 44°30' and 45°30' and East longitude 28°40' and 29°50'. The DDBRA main objectives are: the preservation of the species biodiversity and the sustainable development of the natural resources.

The people are an integral component of the delta that determine ranging objective of the Reserve, from complete protection to intensive yet sustainable production. From the total surface of 580,000 ha of DDBR, 8% are strictly protected areas, 38% are buffer zones, 52% economic zones and 2% are ecological reconstruction zones. More than 12,000 hectares from impounded area, are in process of ecological reconstruction and other ones were proposed to.

The DDBR has 14,962 inhabitants, isolated in 27 rural communities and one town (the shore can be reached only by one day water way trip) and at the edge of Reserve, another 159,075 inhabitants in 38 villages and three towns, according the 1992 census. About 32.5% from active people inside the DDBR works in fishery activities.

The fish resource is the most extensive and important natural resource (common/public property) from the DDBR, with about 6,400 t fish that worth 5,245,400 $ (*ARBDD, 1995.) According to the DDBR objectives, the concept of sustainable use of fish stocks, has to be implemented in the reserve area.

Fish farming was introduced in the Danube Delta in 1961, by diking the wetlands and has reached 49,000 hectares in 1990. The main culture species are: the common carp, the silver carp, the bighead carp and the gras carp. The final net production, 68+_32 kg/ha is obtained from unnourished ponds and 269+-195 kg/ha from nourished ponds. Most of the fish farms in the delta were being in economic difficulties or production cost excised the production value. The major constraints for fish farming are: oversized ponds (50-1,000 ha), large amount of water pumped to fill and empty basins, bad resistance of the organic materials of dikes and large population of piscivorous protected birds.

The total catch in the DDBR area has declined and the freshwater fish catches shifted the structure of weight, from high value species (generally piscivorous fish species) to less valuable species (non piscivorous), because of the changes occured in the biotic and abiotic environment, like: the impoundment of flooding zones, the eutrophication, river damming and over-exploitation (Navodaru & Staras, 1995).

The commercial catch of migratory anadromous sturgeons (Huso huso, Acipenser güldenstaedti and Acipenser stellatus) collapsed from 1000 tons/year at the beginning of XX-th century to 10 tons/year in 1990 (Navodaru, 1991). Interruption of run migration to spawning zone by hydro-electric power dam building to 943 km upstream from the Danube mouths, water pollution and inadequate management of the neighboring Danube river countries, for intercept fisheries, seems to be main causes responsible for this collapse.

Pontic shad (Alosa pontica ) is a fish species with a high economic value. The annual catch varied between 200 to 2500 tons/year, from 1960 through 1997.

Coastal fish catches from the Black Sea, generally small clupeidae based on stationary trap nets fishing has decreased from 10,000 tons/year to 1000 tons/year and valuable species are reduced.

The fishery management system, suffered changes a long the time.

In the Middle Age (XV-th century) the owners of lakes were the rich community leaders, who gave to the right to fish in their dominion. The tax was paid in seven pails of fish and seven days work for water improvement (Bacalbasa-Dobrovici, 1965). In XIX-th Century the fishing rights were allocated by leasing followed by State administration starting from 1896. The income from whole selling fish was distributed traditionally according to the following rule: 1/3 of the value for state tax, 1/3 of the value for the owner of the gears and 1/3 of the value for the fishermen.

The State Administration have introduced the first Fishery law with prohibition of fishing in the spawning period and other regulation.

Wholesaling in auction was done for the first time from 1895 through 1910, afterwards, a system of imposed state prices was introduced (1910-1928), that failed and therefore the old system of auction was re-introduced in 1928 and continued until 1947 (Daia, 1926).

From 1953 through 1989, in the Socialist Politic System, fisheries and fish commercialization were regulated by state companies through command economy. The fishermen were employed by companies, but the income depend on the catch size and the fish was sold at the state controlled price.

After 1989, Romania changed the command economy to the free market economy, through a transitive period. The change requires adjustment of biological, socio-economic and national policy objectives to a new economic system (Razlog, 1991; Manea, 1991).

The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority (DDBRA) have been trying since 1993 to promote "the concession of fishing zone management system" with introduction of fishing quota and effort for each waterbodies. After four years this action written down in DDBR law was canceled.

The Danube Delta Research and Design Institute (DDRDI) carries out a research program to assess the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), and corresponding fishing effort using fish stock assessment models.

The total catches and the fishing effort, have introduced many uncertainties on data input and outcome of the models, due to the poaching, the black market and the lack in fishing effort data.

To improve the fish stock assessment which is the basis for right management, in order to sustain fisheries and DDBR objectives, many problems of fishing rights, fishing licenses and fishing law, have to be solved.

The Fisheries Law from 1974, contains many good biological regulations about close season and area, the legal size of the captured fish and gears use. There are no other regulation or limitation of the catch size and the fishing effort. To date, the fishing right is owned by state fishery, which can employ an unlimited number of fishermen.

A specific legislation of the DDBR from 1993, gives them the power to co-ordinate and regulate fisheries in their region.

The latest regulation (1997) give to the Authority the competence to release individual fishing permits to the fishermen. The problem is to limit the maximum number of individual licenses to about 1000 (according to the former effort) and to establish the criteria for the reallocation of more than 2000 license requests.

The present legislative environment is very dynamic, particularly respecting the forthcoming privatization.

To date, the laws are confusing and in conflict, the old ones versus the recent ones.

The goal of the national fishery policy for food supply is to achieve in the period 1996-2010 - 10 kg fish/"capita"/year, from which 62,000 tons in inland fisheries and fishfarms.

The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Staff is in charge to promote this desideratum. In the Danube Delta area, the Romanian Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environment Protection, through DDBRA, has a special responsibility in the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of fish resources.

At the strategic level, DDRDI is in charge with the fish stock assessment and scientific advisory for fish regulations. This institution has to assess the annual Maximum Sustainable Yield at the commercial species in every waterbody.

The operational level is represented yet by state-owned fisheries and some private. The state fisheries owned the fishing right and are coordinated by the State Property Fund (70%) and the Private Property Fund (30%) through the General Shareholders Assembly, and Tulcea County Council.

The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority is authorized by law to lease fishing zones and to implement the fish regulation, to monitor, survey and control. The Wardens Department from the DDBRA, benefited by the World Bank grant, through GEF Project " Danube Delta Biodiversity", being provided with equipment and training. Enforcement does not solve the blackmarket and unreported catches.

Since 1993, the DDBRA introduced the administration of fish resources by the Total Available Quotas (TAC) based by MSY, provided by DDRDI.

The management of water quality and the fishery management, operate from separate networks. The institutional cooperating is not so evident at the policy, strategy and operational level.

Nowadays, both the ecological argument and the socio-economic ones, are increasingly used in the resources allocation and policy making, in many countries (Raat,1990). In spite of successful or collapse experiences of fisheries management in the world, there is not the "only way" to "Governing the commons" in a certain region (Ostrom, 1990). The state control, the private property (market) ,the cooperative communities agreement or the combined policy could answer the question "who gets what ?", in a sustainable developing approach (Ostrom, 1990).

A long history of open fishing access has led to the present situation where only to reallocate the resources can correct the over-capitalization in the most fisheries (Anderson, 1977). Free access of commons, compels our fishermen to increase the use of the resources without limit, in a world that is limited, in accordance with the model "The tragedy of the commons" (Hardin, 1968).

From the autumn of the 1997s, the DDBRA was mandated to release individual fishing permits that give fishing right to the fishermen. In the meantime, the Romanian Govern has given to the local people inside the delta the right to fish for the use of their family, the consumption up to 3 kg fish per day. In this condition, a conflict between the local people and the commercial fishermen could arise. To date, there are under debate the reallocation of the individual fishing right and fish resources for the local people consume, such as sustainable developing of this isolated region and the conservation of the resource. To integrate a down to up management beside to a top to down management, could be the key of success for a sustainable development of the delta zone.

The former Complex Plan for Economic Development of the Danube Delta, has imposed from a top level was unrealistic and failed. The implication of the scientists and the local people can prevent the repetition of such experiences.

The new management system for sustainable use of fish resources by implementation of fish quota but with open access of resources it seems to be not enough without entry limit access.

Entry limit access should be an inequitable reallocation of resources and fishing right and its success its conditioned by implication of local people in taking of decision and regulation.

Top to down management of outsider beside down to up management of community may coexist in a co-operative management for sustainable development of natural resources and welfare on isolated and poor region.