Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission Nature Protection and Biodiversity Group (HABITAT) HABITAT 16-2014, 6-2 Gothenburg, Sweden, 13-16 May 2014

Document title The HELCOM Joint sturgeon rehabilitation development (2013–2014) Code 6-2 Category INF Agenda Item Progress of expert networks and projects linked to HABITAT Submission date 22.4.2014 Submitted by Germany with support of the Secretariat Reference

Background In 2013, EUSBSR granted funding to start work on a larger scale re-introduction project, which would address the issue through mutual cooperation of nature conservation and fisheries. This document summarizes recent activities of the HELCOM Sturgeon Project Group (PG), which has held two meetings since the HABITAT 15/2013 meeting focusing on developing a future project proposal. A third is planned to be held in Vilnius to finalize a full scale project proposal.

Action required The Meeting is invited to take note of and discuss the HELCOM Joint Baltic Sea sturgeon rehabilitation development.

Page 1 of 3

HABITAT 16-2014, 6-2

The HELCOM Joint Baltic Sea sturgeon rehabilitation development (2013– 2014)

In 1996, HELCOM created a first Project Group (PG) to help coordinate the efforts for rehabilitation of Baltic Sea sturgeon in Germany and in .

The actual sturgeon rehabilitation PG has the goal to re-establish viable natural populations of Baltic Sea sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus). In 2013, EUSBSR granted funding to start work on a larger scale re- introduction project, which would address the issue through mutual cooperation of nature conservation and fisheries. Project partners from Germany, Poland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and have been working on drafting a project proposal for further financing. The project kicked-off with a workshop held in Warsaw, 18–20 September 2013 and continued with a workshop in Berlin, 16–19 January 2014. A third, final, meeting will take place in Vilnius.

The Warsaw workshop (18–20 September 2013) focused on the operational mechanisms of the group and started the discussions on the further project plans. The participants decided that Seed Money contribution for working hours would be pooled to hire an assistant at HELCOM for the project duration. The partners also agreed to use simple majority when dealing with matters at the workshops or via e-mail. Partners that will not comment within deadlines or at meetings will be considered to implicitly agree with the majority of active/present partners. The Workshop also discussed the main outline of the Implementation Project. The Project comprises 5 main deliverables to be worked on over a 5-6 years timespan:

1- Information campaign targeted at recreational/commercial fisheries (a sociological institute could be partner to develop this point)

2- Production of the broodstock for release

3- Development of a HELCOM Baltic Sturgeon Action Plan

4- Establishment of sturgeon as an indicator species for conservation

5- Communication strategy.

The Berlin workshop (16–19 January 2014) was devoted to defining the Implementation Project, including developing a project proposal that can be used by partners to apply for national co-financing. The main aim of the project will be the restoration of a viable population of Baltic sturgeon and the timeline of the project should be between 2015 and 2020. The PG decided to address a number of key issues (core conservation actions):

- Establishment of an Action Plan for Baltic sturgeon - Reintroduction of Baltic sturgeon - Decrease of fishing related mortality.

The partners of this project will tentatively be:

- IGB Berlin (Germany) – Public body - Institute of fisheries M-V (Germany) – Public body - Landgesellschaft (Germany) – Public body and Coordinating beneficiary - Wildlife Estonia (Estonia) - NGO - Polish inland fisheries institute (Poland) – Public body

Page 2 of 3

HABITAT 16-2014, 6-2

- Environmental development association (Latvia) - NGO - Fisheries services under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania) – Public body - Natural history museum of Denmark (Denmark) – Public body - University of Copenhagen (Denmark) – Public body - Kaliningrad State Technical University (Russian Federation) – Public body - HELCOM – Public body.

And potentially also:

- The Swedish national museum (Sweden) – Public body - A Sociological research institute – Germany.

The areas where conservation actions (mainly fish stocking) will take place are:

- Germany – Odra river, Szczecin lagoon (together with Poland) - Poland – river, Angrapa river (together with Russia), Odra river (together with Germany) - Russian Federation – Pregola river, Vistula lagoon (together with Poland), Curonian lagoon (together with Lithuania) decrease of fishing mortality and monitoring of migration only - Lithuania – Neman river, Curonian lagoon - Latvia – Daugava river - Estonia – Narva river.

Considerable time was devoted to discuss potential funding instruments, in particular the new programme under EU LIFE+, but the participants agreed to take a final decision at a later date.

The planned Vilnius workshop (5-8 May 2014) is intended to finalize the work on the full scale project proposal. During this meeting a final decision should be made on the funding instrument that the PG intends to apply to. Also, the PG should finalize its work plan by combining all relevant drafts submitted in advance by project partners. Ideally, the third and final workshop should deliver a clear working draft of the application for the Implementation Project.

Page 3 of 3