In January 2012, a group of sturgeon experts, NGO delegates, and representatives of the ICPDR, the Danube Strategy and national governments established the Danube Sturgeon Task Force (DSTF). Its aim is to coordinate and foster the conservation of native sturgeon species in the Danube River Basin and the adjacent Black Sea by the implementation of the Sturgeon Action Plan adopted under the Bern Convention in 2005.
The general aim is to close the natural sturgeon life-cycle that can only be achieved by joint and simultaneous actions in the Upper, Middle and Lower Danube.
The Program “STURGEON 2020” was launched as a response to one of the targets of Priority Area 6 of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region: to “Secure viable populations of Danube sturgeon species and other indigenous fish species by 2020.”
The DSTF Strategy to implement the Sturgeon 2020 program is based on the Sturgeon Action Plan objectives and actions which can be grouped in four major categories:
(A) Basin-wide coordination of sturgeon policy and best-practice management,
(B) Legislation and enforcement controls for sturgeon fisheries and trade,
(C) Conservation of sturgeon species and populations, including their genetic integrity, and
(D) Protection, management and restoration of sturgeon habitats, including reopening of migration routes.
The DSTF is open to participants who are actively involved in sturgeon conservation (governmental organizations, water managers, fishermen communities, nature conservationists, local stakeholders, NGOs, etc) and want to contribute to different activities of the program Sturgeon 2020.