Incredibly rare fish filmed on camera
Filmmaking relies on many things coming together at once to get good results.
However sometimes amazing things happen you simply can’t predict.
During the filming of the Danube, the Great Rivers team joined Borislava Margaritova, a fish biologist working for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Bulgaria.
Borislava and her team are trying to conserve the health of the Danube and its fish especially 4 species of extremely rare sturgeon still found in the Danube. As one of the major rivers draining into the Black Sea, the Danube is a vital spawning ground for sturgeon.
But overfishing, pollution and the construction of dams - which have blocked them from their spawning grounds upstream have hit the sturgeon hard.
Now Sturgeon are thought to be more critically endangered than any other group of species on the planet.
The Great Rivers team joined Borislava while she conducted a survey on the Danube for her research.
It’s like when somebody have a birthday and you have this present that you want for many, many years and … you have it! ...and it's the not only one, you have both!Borislava Margaritova WWF Bulgaria
Incredibly during filming Borislava and her team caught not just one sturgeon but two! A young sterlet sturgeon estimated to be between 3 and 5 years old and a starry sturgeon, between 5 and 7 years old. This was a huge result and to put it into perspective, in 9 years of doing this work Borislava has only ever caught 6 sturgeon.
They used their time with the sturgeon to record important data including size and weight and carefully attached tags, so they could monitor the fish's movements. The fish were then carefully released back into the Danube to continue their journey.
It’s hoped that conservation efforts, like restocking and protection of migration routes may just give these iconic fish a future.
Incredibly rare sturgeon fish found in Danube survey
WWF biologist Borislava Margaritova and her team catch two rare sturgeon fish in Bulgaria.
