A recent law amendment, approved by the Chamber of Deputies in Romania, which transfers the right to issue permits for fishing and hunting in the Danube Delta to the Delta Reservation Administration has triggered discontent among animal and environmental protection activists.

The changes in law, aimed at helping the Danube Delta develop socially and economically, will turn the Danube Delta into a 'battlefield', said Marius Marinescu, honorary president of the Federation for the Protection of Animals and Environment in Romania, quoted by Agerpres.

“Our Delta hosts rare species of birds and animals unfortunately targeted by burdensome businessmen hunters, both local and international. I am afraid that the horrors of Balc (famous hunting event- e.n) will expand to the Danube Delta. I hope that the authorities in charge will appeal this shameful law at the Constitutional Court and I hope it will be declared unconstitutional,” said Marinescu. If the Constitutional Court is not notified, the only chance to save the fauna in the Danube Delta is in the hands of the Romanian President, Marinescu went on.

According to the Emergency Ordinance, the way the natural resources in the Delta are used, the tourism services, recreational fishery and hunting, as well as transport on the channels in the Danube Delta will be made based on permits issued by the Reservation Administration.

So far, fishing rights were issued by the National Fisheries Agency – the Tulcea subsidiary, including for fishing in the Danube Delta, at a cost of RON 30 per years. For the border areas in the Danube Delta, the Border Police also had to give their approval.

The new ordinance also allows inhabitants in the Danube Delta to fish based on nominal permits, for their own consumption, without paying any tax.

The Danube Delta entered the UNESCO list in 1991. The Danube Delta is the second largest and the best preserved delta in Europe. The Danube Delta is a wildlife enthusiast’s, and especially a bird watcher’s paradise. It hosts the highest concentration of bird colonies in Europe.

The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve has the third largest biodiversity in the world (over 5,500 flora and fauna species), exceeded only by the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Galapagos Archipelago in Ecuador. More then half of the Delta Biosphere Reserve is virtually intact. Some 15,000 people inhabit the Delta area, living in 28 villages and one city (Sulina), which is the easternmost point of Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com