Yes, in Romania there is a ban for commercial fishing and caviar trade for 10 years period, since 2006.
Overharvesting was one of the causes that lead to the critical condition of the sturgeons of the Lower Danube River.
Other causes were related to the loss of spawning habitats located upstream of the Iron Gates (Djerdap) Dams in and the poor management for over 10 years after the changes that occurred in the Eastern-Europe in '89.
Imagine that historically the anadromous sturgeon species could reach Vienna and beluga sturgeon even Regensburg, Germany and Iron Gates (Djerdap) I and II Dams that were build by Romania and Serbia in 1972 and 1984, respectively, reduced to half their migratory route. Even today there are few beluga sturgeon specimens born before 1972 trying to pass through the Iron Gates. They are huge, over 40 years old and weighting several hundreds of kilos...the poacher's dream...
Beluga sturgeon is known to live about 100 years, so there is still the hope to use such old specimens for obtaining artificial produced progeny for reintroduction of beluga sturgeon in the Middle Danube River.
Additional info on Danube Sturgeon Task Force www.dstf.eu
"Are Huso huso, Acipenser stellatus and Acipenser gueldenstaedtii legally protected in Serbia, Romania or Bulgaria?"
In Romania: Huso huso and Acipenser stellatus since 1993 (details in Annex III of Act 13/1993).
The others few years later.
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