Danube Delta Romania

Jurilovca is a small fishing village located on danube delta where it flows into the Black Sea. The Romanian state had managed the fishing cooperatives in the southern delta of the Danube River but with the demise of communism the state has handed fishing resources over to private businesses who may want to build hotels and resorts. At dawn the fishermen of the danube delta are heading out to sea. It is 5 am in the southern part of the danube delta and they have been waiting for 2 months for the fish to reproduce. Now the fishermen are confident and have bought back the boats from the cooperative.

There were plenty of fish before, then lots of poachers came and the fish started disappearing and now things are getting better. Armed guards try to stop poachers in the southern delta because the poachers were violent but now the guards have made a difference. The fishing villages are getting very poor but since the state run cooperatives have shut down, private business have taken over the fishing. Concessions are granted to 11 private companies who pledge to employ locals and conserve nature. The delta resources are now exploited by private businesses who want to restore the southern delta fisheries to a renewable resource.

They had to get a lot of illegal nets out of the water which are confiscated and the owners taken to court. The nets are used as evidence. The fishermen use rowing boats and nets to fish the waters of the southern delta in romania. The fishermen live on the concession for weeks and only go home for a couple of days. The price of boats have become expensive as well as the cost of housing. It is worse than ever for the fishermen. If you do not keep quiet then you get into trouble with the bosses. The goal is to return to former levels of production in the southern delta. The businesses are building up the processing factories in stages. The fishermen only earn about a hundred euros per month. Under the law they get about half the catch if they have their own boat and nets. If they use the company nets and boats then the fishermen of the southern delta of romania get a lesser amount.

The guards catch the poachers red handed while they are fishing at night. They check the fish and their licences and sometimes the poachers will abandon a boat if the fisheries guards come along. They must have a long swim to shore. The government authorities have been made to act against the poachers because of reports and scandals. An old trawler has been converted into a research vessel which monitors pollution levels of the River Danube at the southern Delta. The Black Sea is slowly dying, the oceanic researchers have said. Now there are lots of jellyfish which shows that the waters of the Black Sea are being badly polluted. The problem is that there are fourteen countries in this area.

The Danube Delta villages are slowly diminishing in economic terms. Romania used to be a main exporter of caviar from Sturgeon roe in days gone past. But now the fishermen come home empty handed. They say that there are lots of fish in this area but there is a lack of fishermen to catch the sturgeon fish. The fish are going deeper and they have to send their nets deeper and deeper to catch fish.

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