Session E5: Improving Fish Migration at the Iron Gates I & II Dams

Abstract: In the Danube river basin in Romania, 119 priority fish migration barriers were indicated. In the Danube river basin as a whole, the amount of indicated priority barriers reaches 400 – 500 barriers. The Iron Gate dams were prioritized in the ICPDR Danube river basin management plan as ‘utmost priority’. In 2011, in an assignment for Romania and Serbia (and encouraged by the ICPDR), the FAO conducted a scoping mission to explore general fish migration solutions at the Iron Gates I and II dams. The main conclusion was: provision for migration routes at the Iron Gates dams is technically feasible. Furthermore, the report stated that following steps will have to include the gathering of detailed input from already existing data and from new monitoring activities. The most critical issue will be the choice of the right location of an upstream fish passage entrance: a specific telemetry study on sturgeon is absolutely needed to decide on the location. In 2012 a consortium of Dutch companies and a Romanian research institute (DDNI) started a project subsequent to the FAO scoping mission under the flag of the Dutch partners for water program. The project consisted of a field visit, data collection and analysis (a.o. dam structure, bathymetry, hydrology, ecology), predesign of the most feasible fish migration solutions, cost estimate, stakeholder meeting, international expert meeting and a sturgeon telemetry study (performed by DDNI). Furthermore a roadmap for following steps was made including a planning. This presentation will focus on the main outcomes of the FAO scoping mission and subsequent ‘Partners for water’ project, the project process, key questions and following steps on the roadmap