Post by WWF Central and Eastern Europe

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) , WWF Bulgaria and partners released around 30,000 juvenile Russian #sturgeons (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii), a critically endangered species, into the Danube River. 📍The release took place near the village of Gomotartsi, close to Vidin, #Bulgaria, on 21 May 2026, ahead of #WorldMigratoryFishDay. The initiative is part of the international #LIFEBoat4Sturgeons project, funded under the European Union’s LIFE Programme. 🐟The Russian sturgeon was once the most widespread sturgeon species in the Danube River. It regularly migrated upstream as far as Bratislava, with individual specimens recorded even near Vienna and Regensburg. Today, the species is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN #Red List. “Joining forces across countries and sharing the efforts and resources needed to maintain broodstock, rear fish, and organise their release is the real strength of the LIFE Boat project,” says Beate Striebel-Greiter, WWF Sturgeon Initiative Lead. “In an international river basin like the Danube, we need to move beyond a situation where each country works in isolation and instead build a truly common initiative.” Read more in the full story, linked in the comments.