Savior of the Sturgeons

For more than 200 million years, sturgeons have lived in our seas and rivers. Today, they are among the most endangered species on Earth. The Black Sea and the Danube still host some of the last remaining wild populations, but their survival is under serious threat from habitat loss, pollution, and illegal fishing.

In 2023, For Our Sea Foundation, together with the fishermen’s association Black Sea Sunrise, launched the Savior of the Sturgeons initiative. What began with a small group of responsible fishermen returning accidentally caught sturgeons back into the sea soon grew into a collective effort. In the following months, vessels from outside the association also joined, showing that conservation and livelihoods can go hand in hand.

Through the initiative, fishermen report every case of bycatch, release the sturgeons alive, and share valuable data on their size, weight, and migration routes. These efforts have already saved nearly 180 sturgeons, including some of the largest beluga ever recorded in the Black Sea.

The data and results are shared with Bulgarian national authorities and with the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), as well as with international partners dedicated to protecting the Black Sea environment.

Today, 15 fishing vessels are part of the initiative – four times more than when it started. Our next step is to expand beyond Bulgaria, working together with fishermen in Romania and Turkey.
Because only through collective efforts and real results can we ensure that these magnificent creatures remain part of the Black Sea -for the sea we love, and the future we share.

Below, we publish our reports submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture of Bulgaria and to GFCM, as well as stories of some of our hero fishermen, together with photos and videos of the sturgeons they released back into the sea.