billion dollar fish narration 0412

Billion Dollar Fish narration 0412 ScienceVision page 1/28

Billion Dollar Fish

Directed by Alfred Schwarzenberger

A production of ScienceVision for Terra Mater 52 00

00.10

Venice the meeting place of the rich and the beautiful. It was from here, and Paris, that

beluga caviar was sent around the world. By the beginning of the 20th century, caviar had

become what it is now: the epitome of luxury.

00:35

According to connoisseurs, beluga caviar is the finest of all caviars. The eggs of the

beluga are larger and not quite as dark as those of the other sturgeons. Beluga caviar is

the most expensive food you can buy in the world.

00.54

Rosenthal

In some extreme cases, beluga caviar was traded for as much as 22,000 dollars per kilo! [Ein Extrembeispiel, da wurden Preise bezahlt zwischen 20.000 und 22.000 Dollar das Kilo!]

01.02

Its eggs may be internationally famous, but the beluga itself prefers to lead a secretive life.

Because of the huge demand for its valuable eggs, the beluga, and almost the entire

sturgeon family, are now on the brink of extinction. Ironically, commercial interest in the

eggs may be the only hope for its survival.

01.32

This is the tragic story of a creature that had no enemies for more than 200 million years!


01.40

Vedrasco

This is the first film about Beluga, but maybe the last, this is history!

01:48 Title Billion Dollar Fish

02.23

When the fishermen on the lower stretches of the Danube put out their huge nets, they are

out to catch a gigantic creature from prehistoric times.

02.36

The fishermen call him the King of the Danube. They do not whistle while they are in their

boats. They believe that whistling brings bad luck and drives the fish away.

02:49

Deep in the Danube, a beluga sturgeon swims upstream to its spawning sites. Its

movements are powerful and leisurely. There is no need to hurry. This is a fish that can live

for more than 100 years. And who is there to be afraid of? The Beluga can reach a length

of 8 metres and a weight of more than two tons. It is the worlds largest freshwater fish. Big

adults dwarf even the great white shark. For instance this beluga sturgeon, caught in the

Caspian Sea.

03.29

Sidorencu

Its head was about this big. I can still see it today! It weighed about 1000kg. It was the

biggest I ever caught. When the wind was right, we caught many big animals. Most of

them weighed between 150kg and 200kg, some with caviar, some without. Thats the way

it was then! [i acuma vd pe el. Cam aa capul era. i atunci cnd btea vntul cam prindeam cam, nainte spunem aa, i 1000 de kile, restul aa cam un sturion 150 pn la 200 cu icrele, far icre masculul i femela, mai att da.]


03.57

Today in Romania the fishermen return empty-handed. After perestroika, there were no

fishing laws in the former Eastern bloc countries, so there was no-one to supervise. As a

result, sturgeon stocks dwindled. In 2003, the annual catch of beluga sturgeons had

plummeted to just 20 tons, compared with 300 tons a year up to the nineteen seventies.

04:29

In the good old days Dementi Cernamorit was the head of a fishing brigade. He and his

wife Eugenia still remember the golden era of sturgeon fishing. Now Romania and Bulgaria

have imposed a blanket ban on sturgeon fishing until 2016.

04.47

Cernamorit

At the time, up to ten brigades were on the water. Sometimes a single brigade would

catch 10 tons in one day. There were as many belugas in the river as there are herrings in

the sea. [10 brigzi cte un vagon, 10 vagoane de moruni. N-am ce discuta. Atta era morun cum scrumbia pe mare. Atunci era morun.]

04.58

If the sturgeon disappears, many questions will remain unanswered forever for scientists

like Harald Rosenthal.

05.04

Rosenthal

In many ways, the fish is still a mystery to us. There is so much we dont know. It has a

very complex life history [Dieser Fisch ist uns ein Mysterium - wenn man das so scharf ausdrcken will - geblieben, weil seine

Lebensgeschichte sehr komplex ist.]


05.17

Sturgeons are an evolutionary success story. In the last 200 million years, there has been

little change to their design. Although they are cartilaginous fish like sharks, they also

exhibit some features that are typical of bony fish.

5:34

Sturgeons have an exoskeleton, and a kind of extendable trunk.

05.43

Harald Rosenthal is a renowned hydro biologist and fisheries scientist. What allowed the

sturgeons to out-live the dinosaurs is a question that still puzzles scientists. Maybe the

answer lies in their genes. With up to 240 chromosomes, sturgeons have great inbuilt

genetic variety.

06.07

Rosenthal

The sturgeon is a very special animal! Scientifically, too. Its physiology, its life history, its

embryonic development and the entire reproductive strategy are exceptional and therefore

interesting topics for research. [Der Str ist schon was ganz besonderes! Auch fr die Wissenschaft. Von seiner Physiologie her, von seiner

Lebensgeschichte her, von seiner embryonalen Entwicklung und von seiner gesamten

Fortpflanzungsstrategie, und deshalb auch ein reizvolles Forschungsobjekt.]

06.25

Radu Suciu from the Danube Delta National Institute in Romania has dedicated his

scientific career to these living fossils.

06.34

Radu

I love this fish. Its fantastic! They are beautiful, they are special, they are in all the ways

unique and its not a love at first sight, but its real love!


07.01

The River Danube in Romania is one of the last remaining spawning grounds of the beluga

sturgeon. When they migrate upstream in autumn to hibernate in the river and gather

strength for the mating season in spring, the scientists follow in their tracks. For a long

time, the sturgeons had remained hidden from curious eyes. They prefer to stay in the

deeper, murky water.

07.27

It takes high-tech equipment such as ultrasonic underwater cameras to locate a beluga.

07.34

Radu

They are the most valuable fish actually in the world, and the most difficult to study!

07.40

We see the fish, which is staying in this deep hole. Look the fish, you see it moving? It just

came down to the bottom. Must have been a sturgeon! And again! You see here? Real

Action! Its the typical movement of the sturgeon, going to the ground!

08.06

Radus office must be one of the largest in the world: it extends several hundred

kilometres along the Danube. Trying to understand the behaviour of the beluga sturgeons

means that he has to explore the riverbed: a place less known than the surface of the

moon.

08.21

Radu

Most of the information we know about sturgeons, come from dead sturgeons, which were

already caught! Their behaviour in the river, the behaviour of the live sturgeons is

fascinating to study. Every year we are excited about discovering one small thing, which

widens our understanding, widens the possibilities to move forward in conservation!


08.51

Barbed wire, CCTV and dogs guard a place of hope about one hour drive east of

Bucharest.

09:00

Robert Radutas fish farm rears 50,000 young belugas. In 15 years, when they are ready

for spawning, these animals will be worth their weight in gold.

09.10

Raduta

From 100.000 Belugas which have to be released, surely are going to come back, more

than 15%. We take only 10%. 10% of 100.000 is 10.000. From those half are females, half

are males! If the Romanian fishermen catch only again 10% from those 5.000, its gonna

be 500 females. 5 tons of caviar, multiplied with 5.000 Euro per kilo, which is today from

the wild, in 15 years is gonna be much higher, is already 25 Millions!

09.45

Romania is the only country on the lower Danube to have introduced a so-called

supportive stocking programme to help the beluga population recover. Romania wants

caviar production to become an important contributor to its national economy. Robert

Raduta runs the only fish farm where belugas are bred for restocking. Every single animal

is precious, both economically and for the preservation of the species.

10:11

Another 50,000 belugas are to be bred in the coming weeks. A difficult job, and one that

demands a specialist: Arcadie Vedrasco.


10.21

Raduta

The best one is Arcadie Vedrasco from Republic Moldova, who has a very big experience.

I called him, the next day he came, he was excited from the idea, to save the sturgeons

through restocking programs and we started a partnership which goes for six years

already.

10.47

Vedrasco

These animals are a work of art created by nature. If you know that these fish are no

more stupid than we humans are, if you consider that they can think and understand us

and respond to us, then you will also understand that we have to respond to them in turn.

We have to treat them very carefully so we can understand them. We must try to

understand them! [Cnd te uii la aa.. o art a naturii i cnd tii c petii nu sunt mai proti de minte dect oamenii, c ei poate s gndeasc, poate s asculte vorba oamenilor, omului i fix aa reacioneaz spre noi cum noi reacionm spre ei. De atta noi trebuie s.. cam ncetul, cu atenie cum s lucrm cu ei, ca s-i nelegem, noi n primul rnd pe ei.]

11.14

The Borcia arm, one of many branches on the lower course of the Danube, is one of the

best spots to fish for sturgeons. Daniel and Cristea still fish for belugas. There are not

many who do these days. Daniel and Cristea are on the payroll of the Danube Delta Institute. In the autumn of 2011, they caught two animals. The year before, they caught 16.

It gets worse every year, they say. At 100 dollars per fish, they do not earn enough to

provide for their families.


12.00

Daniel

The life of the fishermen is not easy! In summer it is hot, in winter it is freezing cold. And if

it is cold, our work takes it all out of us. Our life is tough! [Cum este viaa de pescrie? Dup timp Cnd este frig, cnd este cald, e mai greu cnd este frig (ne chinuim) e greu.]

12.19

During the night, they managed to catch this young beluga, but they did not get any money

for it. They had already caught this one before. A transmitter is attached to it underneath

the small seam on its stomach.

12:34

On the dorsal fin, the scientists marked the male beluga with what they call spaghettis. It

has the number 0900.

12.57

Receivers are installed all along the Borcia arm. They pick up signals from the fishes and

this provides information about their migration routes.

13.08

This is important information for the scientists because the belugas are facing a new

threat: cargo shipping on the Danube. For easier river navigation, the Danube is to be dug

deeper in some places, and in others the water is to be redirected. Only if the habitats of

the belugas are known can they be considered in the plans of the navigation project.

13.30

Radu

I love to think and to say to others, that all our work is actually for the sturgeons and in the

same time for the sturgeon fishermen. So we want to preserve the sturgeons, both for

biodiversity and nature conservation, but also for the fishermen communities!


13.54

Arcadie Vedrasco studied in Moscow. He researched sturgeons in Siberia and in

Astrakhan at the elite fish science institute of Soviet Russia. He has just three wild

beluga females for reproduction that is all the fishermen delivered to Robert Raduta.

Now the females will undergo strong hormone treatment and invasive surgery to extract

their valuable eggs.

14.27

Vedrasco

A female beluga is just like any other mother who cares for her children. She will not

release her eggs until she is certain that the next generation is able to survive. [n primul rnd femela, ca i orice mam, are grij de copil. Ea nu depune icrele pn nu este sigur c generaia are pentru s supravieuiasc n mediul natural.]

14.59

Arcadie carries out a biopsy. He is careful not to disturb the sensitive animals

unnecessarily. To start with, he must know the condition of the eggs, otherwise he will not

be able to determine the right dosage for the hormone treatment. Other factors he must

consider are the weight of the animals and the water temperature. The purpose of the

hormone treatment is to induce the females to spawn.

15.30

Vedrasco

A beluga needs everything to be just right before it will breed! For instance the water

quality or the flow of the water. And they need feeding sites! [n primul rnd trebuie curentul apei, calitatea apei, lipsa nmolului, prezena diferite forme de hran.]

15.57

In the kitchen of the fish farm, Arcadie and his assistant Mihai examine the eggs. The

result worries them. The chances of success have dropped dramatically. Only ONE female

is suitable for reproduction. Only in her eggs is the nucleus in the right place for artificial

insemination. As a sign of his respect for the creature, Arcadie names her Flori, the flower.


16.30

Vedrasco

If we want reproduction to be successful, we need to watch the female carefully. She must

be strong and should not be injured. And she should not be subjected to stress. [Petele, la reproducere, trebuie s ne uitm n starea lui, cum este starea, s nu fie plit, s nu fie tiat, s nu fie stresat.]

16.46

After three days, the scientists of the Danube Delta Institute receive the first signals from

the transmitter on fish number 0900. But they are not what they had hoped for

16.59

Radu

So the fish is at 1,1m depth only, and we suspect, the fish is dead! We have a directional

hydrophone which showed us, that the fish is somewhere below this barge. We have 15m

water depth here. A live Beluga would have been on the bottom. It is stuck beneath this

barge and we need to recuperate the receiver and to see why the fish died, it happened,

its a very sad event!

17.31

Fish number 0900 did not die a natural death. All that is left of the 100kg animal are two

plastic bottles.

17.42

Radu

This is a 600 Euro ultrasonic transmitter, which was in a Beluga male for three days.

Poachers, I think, caught the fish and located this tag in this bottle. And in another bottle

they put a piece of the body of the fish we have it and close to the fin it was this

Spaghetti-Tag saying: the Danube Delta Institute and fish-number 0900!


18.33

Marian Cristea [pronunciation: Marian Kristea] is the most powerful man along the Borcia

arm near Fetesti [Feteshti]. He is the chief of the local fishermen. To protect the sturgeons,

the researchers and the fishermen work together closely. Illegal beluga fishing is a big

concern for Marian.

18.53

Marian Cristea

As long as the fishermen fail to receive good training, there will be nothing but

disappointment for commercial fishing. Many do not know what they are doing. Illegal

fishing is more widespread than one would think. If you knew what is going on, you might

well go insane. [Atta timp ct educatia profesional ctre pescar nu e transmis perfect, n domeniul pescuitului comercial latura pescuitului ilegal atinge cote.. cteodat te i surprinde. Dac le cunoti, cteodat o iei razna.]

19.20

Although there are no official figures, experts believe that tons of caviar are sold on the

illegal market and that millions of euros are earned in this way. The sales channels,

structures and organization are comparable to the drugs trade.

19:42

Robert Raduta, who has to pay the fishermen to catch the animals for his stocking

programme, knows that the rules of the black market have a direct impact on him.

19.52

Raduta

Unfortunately, I have to pay the price of the black market, because if I dont pay this price

the fishermen is never gonna bring me the fish, even if I give him the license to catch

those fishes. Hes just selling the fish for the black market, because the chance to earn

between 5.000 and 10.000 Euro catching one fish is like lottery for him. He is not catching

every day. There are fishermen they are fishing for 20 years and they didnt catch a

Beluga!


20.36

Even though it has joined the EU, Romania remains one of Europes poorest countries.

The official average income is less than 4,000 Euro per year. To make matters worse,

the country suffers from high unemployment. But if you catch a beluga, well, this certainly

changes your life.

20.59

Stelica Gherghisan [Stelika Gergishan] was one of the lucky ones. After the collapse of the

Ceausescu regime, he was unemployed for six years. As a fisherman, he struggled to

provide for his family. Today he is the mayor of his hometown of Vacareni [pronunciation:

Vakareni] and undoubtedly the richest man of the village.

21:20

On the 2nd April 1999, he went to fish for carp for the Easter soup. He and his wife

Valentina recall how he netted a massive beluga female instead.

21.37

Stelica Gherghisan

The female sturgeon I caught in 1999 was 3.5 metres long, weighed 420kg and was about

as fat as this barrel It took two men to put their hands around her, and they only just

managed. [Femela de morun a avut 3 metrii i jumtate ca lungime, a avut 420 de kilograme i groas cam ct acest butoi, o cuprindeam dou personae. Femela care a fost prins n 99, n 1999.]

21.53

Valentina Gherghisan

The fish almost looked human to me! I felt sorry for the female. She was so big and cried,

it sounded almost as if she was weeping. I dont know, if I had been in his place I probably

would have set her free. I felt very sorry for her! [Ca i cum ar avea, e ceva uman, aa nu tiu, mie mi este foarte mil, i asta fiind mare, ipa, scotea nite sunete aa, parc plngea, nu tiu...dac a fi fost n locul lui eu i ddeam drumu. Sunt foarte miloas, prefer s.. nu tiu..]


22.11

Stelica

The net had broken, but we wanted to keep on fishing near the shore with what was left of

it. As I was pulling it out, I suddenly saw the female coming up. Only her nose was caught

in the net. When I saw the beluga, I stared in disbelief. I had never seen such a huge fish,

it looked as big as an elephant to me. I didnt know what to do. Whether to set it free or

take it home. [Ne-am ntors la mal, suprai i cu sculele rupte. Cu o bucat din scula, care ne-a mai rmas am dat o toarn pe la mal. Cnd am recuperat sculele am vzut femela c a ieit deasupra i nu avea dect n vrful nasului doi ochi de plas prini. Cnd am vzut animalul n plas mi-a creat emoii mari de tot. Una, pentru c nu am mai vzut asemenea mastodont, a putea s-i spun, i eram pus ntre ciocan i nicoval: ce s fac s-i dau drumul sau s-l iau? ]

22.43

Stelica

In any case, it carried about 80kg of caviar! [i femela avea vreo 80 de kilograme de caviar.]

22.58

Valentina

I dont know, there is something strange about this fish! On the one hand, you feel as if

you had won the jackpot! But you have to be careful, in case you are stricken by the curse

of the fish! [..Mmm, nu tiu, tii mai e o chestie cu petele: Ai impresia c ai prins..ai prins lozul cel mare i totui parc exist un blestem al petelui.]

23.27

The Black Sea. Here and in the Caspian Sea, the belugas live at depths of up to 100m,

hunting for fish and crustaceans. But every three to five years, they embark on a journey to

their spawning grounds. Once, their journey took them to all the great rivers that flow into

these seas.


23:56

Often the Belugas migrated thousands of kilometres upstream to return to the place where

they themselves were born. The scientists assume that it is their olfactory sense that

guides them there. The giant fish used all their considerable strength to overcome the

powerful current at the Iron Gate, as they travelled up the river to spawn sometimes all

the way to Germany.

24:28

This is the statue of the Dacian king Decebalus Rex. It was hewn into stone in the

nineteen nineties, and no beluga has ever swum past it.

24:41

By that time, overfishing and pollution had taken its toll on the sturgeon population in the

Danube. But a terrible blow had already been dealt in 1972. That was the year when a

huge structure was built into the river, as a monument to the friendship between the people

of Romania and Yugoslavia, transforming the Danube forever. From now on, the belugas

would be unable to reach their most important spawning grounds. 800 kilometres up the

river, their journey ended abruptly.

25:21

In front of what was once the worlds biggest hydro-electric power station Djerdab 1.

25.33

Rosenthal

At first, nobody noticed because the fish live so long. They are out there for decades. And

even if a dam was built 60 years ago, animals will still return from the time before it was

built. This is why you dont realize that their stocks are going down. [Man hat das zunchst gar nicht bemerkt, weil die Fische ja ein langes Leben haben. Sie sind 20, 30, 50, 60

Jahre drauen. Und wenn vor 60 Jahren ein Damm gebaut wurde, kommen ja immer noch Tiere von der Zeit

davor zurck und deshalb merkt man auch gar nicht, dass die Bestnde abnehmen.]


25.51

The beluga population in the Caspian Sea is on its way out. In the Black Sea, they still live

in some coastal areas. The Danube is one of the last rivers where the belugas spawn.

26.07

Cristea

At least 99% of the sturgeons simply disappeared. And there are fewer of them every

year. If it goes on like this, we will catch nothing at all in a couple of years. Nothing! Zero! [99 la sut garantat disprut, i automat dac deci el a i disprut sau e ntr-un numr foarte mic, pescuitul sturionului va fi peste civa ani zero... zero.]

26.37

The Red Rock is halfway between the Black Sea and the Iron Gate. One of the few known

spawning sites of the belugas is just in front of it. To protect the sturgeons from the impact

of the Danube navigation project, Radu must desperately find places like this one. But

there are few of them in the Danube because the belugas are very choosy: they will only

spawn on a particular kind of gravel or rock.

27.04

Radu

The sturgeons are laying their eggs actually in deep water, next day after the peak of the

water level in that region. The reason for that is that the high water flow until it reaches the

peak cleans all the substrate like this and the eggs can stick there to the substrate. And

only those eggs survive, which are in the crevasses, where the ground fish, the Gobiidae,

which are specialized to live on rocks, cannot reach to them.

27.49

Females are in spawning condition for only a few days in each year. Scientists refer to this

period as a window of opportunity. During reproduction, the belugas are greatly affected

by water temperature, air pressure, air temperature and the speed of the current. Arcadie

tries to provide the complex interaction of these factors, along with hormone treatment.


28:20

His work is based on a former Russian state secret, the book of Ivanov, which records the

results of decades of sturgeon research. But the Soviets had no intention of sharing it with

anybody.

28.38

Radu

It was real a treasure for us, when we discovered it in 2004. It was really luck, that Arcadie

Vedrasco had the Ivanovs Book with him. And I only copied seven pages of it with tables

and diagrams and this actually changed our way of understanding the whole life of our

Beluga in the Danube River!

29.09

This is the so called sturgeon Kindergarten on the border between Romania and the

Ukraine. The belugas hatched about 200 kilometres upstream. This place is where they

hunt when they are about six weeks old. Radu fishes for them here to establish whether

and to what extent belugas are still breeding in the wild.

29.31

Radu

It is the single most important fishery independent indicator of the status of the

populations.

29.43

Before we invented this, all the indicators which were used, were fishery dependent. That

means you got the information from the fishermen, from the fishery-industry. Which is

always biased by some reason? And now we are doing something which is not influenced

by their interests or by their good or bad will.


30.08

As they want to protect them from the burning sun, Radu and his assistant Marian

examine the baby belugas in the shade of the riverbank. A pump supplies oxygen for the

animals.

30.22

Radu

The fish is seven gram and its a black Beluga!

30.27

These fish are about 15 centimetres long. It will only take them a few days to grow to twice

the size.

30.34

Radu

We also take a tissue-sample of the fish. We clip the anal fin, which is the less used by

the fish. It will regrow in about one month.

30.50

Belugas grow throughout their life. At this stage, they are miniature replicas of the adults,

and already they are hunting for small crustaceans and larvae on the riverbed.

31.02

Radu

Its the way he senses the food. You see? Its like a radar device in front of his mouth.

31.11

The scientists must be careful when they work with the baby belugas.


31.16

Radu

These scutes are really razor sharp. The fish is safe from other raptors. And it really

enables them a high rate of survival.

31.30

Radu

If we see young of the year migrating towards the sea, that is the indication that our

conservation and recovery program is working well.

31.43

For one species of sturgeon in the Danube, time could already be up. In the Hungarian fish

research institute HAKI near Budapest, lives the rarest fish in the world. Lonely Jack is

the last of his kind. Jack is a ship-sturgeon. He was caught by fishermen two years ago.

Until recently, Lonely Jack was kept in a pond, but his condition worsened rapidly. He

refused to feed. His weight went down from 22kg to 15kg.

32:20

There is little Dr. Andras Ronyai, also a graduate of the University of Astrakhan, can do for

him.

32.27

Ronyai

I am very worried about this fish! We could not find for him adequate foods or artificial

feeds.

32:42

At least Lonely Jack now has company in his last retreat. Several small sterlets share the

basin with him.


32.51

Ronyai

The idea is, that probably could be a small chance, that the ship-sturgeon, somehow can

learn from the small specimens how to take or accept the diets.

33.09

Once a month, Lonely Jack is weighed. Since his weight was last taken, he has lost

another half a kilo.

33.17

Ronyai

In late spring of 2010 we treated him with hormones for obtaining milt from him, but this

was failed.

33.35

If milt could be taken from Lonely Jack and stored, his species might yet be saved.

However, another hormone treatment could kill off the weak animal. Before this is an

option, Lonely Jack has to regain weight.

33.48

Ronyai

If anyway we could not succeed, we will release him to the Danube river!

34.01

Whether there is a female in the Danube at all, and if so whether Lonely Jack would ever

meet her, is very uncertain. The rarer a species, the more difficult it is for the surviving

individuals to meet and mate, and extinction looms ever larger. Its hoped that captive

breeding programmes will compensate for this effect and contribute to the survival of the

belugas - and the other three species of sturgeon that spawn in the Danube.


34.35

Once a sturgeon species has disappeared from a river system, it is almost impossible to

reintroduce it. Over many millions of years, the animals have adapted to their

surroundings. Their ability to navigate is hard-wired into their brains. Belugas from the

Danube would be hopelessly lost in any other river. They would be unable to find spawning

or feeding sites. Arcadie is aware of this. He is taking milt from a male that was caught in

the same spot where the fishermen also caught Flori. He needs to avoid mixing the

genetic material of differently programmed fish.

35.21

Belugas still spawn in the Danube, but the numbers are very low.

35.27

Radu

In this particular species, in Beluga, there were only strong generations in 2000, in 2005

and in 2010. And all the others were about at the level of what we are having today. We

caught like, average is, like two fish in every haul. This is still an indicator, that the

generation which have spawned in 2011 was weak. The number of brood fish was small, it

was at the limit.

36.04

Radu

Good luck, my friend!

The fish is going down very fast. This is very typical for sturgeons. I have not seen other

fish, which does it like this.

The young or the adults behave just the same. Within seconds, it took like three seconds,

the small fish which we released. When they realised they are in the river, they just went

the ground is about eleven meter deep from here. Within in ten meter they are down!

36.58

In a few days they will reach the Danube delta.


37:04

Here the armour-plated baby belugas need not fear any natural enemies, not even the

most skilful fish hunters on the river.

37.30

They will spend a few weeks here, until they are strong enough to move to the Black Sea

where food is abounded.

37:47

When they are approximately 15 years old and ready for spawning, many belugas will

return, travelling along the southern arm of the delta.

38.01

They will swim past a town that would not be there were it not for the sturgeons. A town

that owes its fame to caviar production.

38.18

Sfantu Gheorge. Once upon a time, it was the capital of European sturgeon fishing. Cars

are virtually non-existent here, for the fishing village can only be reached by boat. Many

years ago, it was modestly affluent. But when the sturgeon population declined, the locals

lost their most important source of income. Today, only a few hundred inhabitants are left.

They are exploring tourism as an alternative to fishing.

38.56

As he himself claims, Simion Sidorencu was the villages top sturgeon fisher.

39.08

Sidorencu

Fish soup is like medicine! [Ciorb, ciorb de pete, medicamentu.]


39.13

Sidorencu

The kids here are not interested in fishing any more. They hardly know what an oar is,

never mind a hook. In our days, fishing was everything. We watched our fathers and

grandfathers do it. This is how we learned it, just as they had learned it from their fathers! [tia copiii nici nu tie - uite crligul acolo - nici nu tie ce-i asta carma, i nu atrage lui. Pe noi a atras, c am vzut de la tata, ce de la bunelu, ce de la prieteni, mai aa, mai aa, mai aa, nvam eu de la oameni.]

39.37

Simion keeps the old tools of his trade in the attic. He doesnt need them any more. And in

any case, nobody wants to learn from him how to use them. But in his younger days, he

and his colleagues laid out miles of lines during the spring and autumn fishing seasons.

40:03

The lines stayed in the water for days on end. Sharp hooks were attached to them at 12-

inch intervals. One half of the hook hangs down, the other half is fastened to a cork float.

Big sturgeons got caught on these long-lines.

40:21

But as the sturgeons disappear, so do the fishing traditions.

40.30

Sidorencu

There is nobody for the kids to look up to now that we have stopped fishing for belugas.

The grass is growing in the neighbours garden, and I grow potatoes in my garden! [C copiii acuma de la cine s nva? C ei s-a oprit. i de ce? ia pescuiete, ia ... la vecinii iarb, acolo iarb i la mine cartofi.]


40.46

Eugenia Cernamorit

There was so many fish! Mackerels, herrings, sturgeons. There was some of every kind.

The girls and the women had work. We prepared the caviar and disembowelled the fish.

But now the fish have disappeared! If only I knew why! [Da pete era. Stavrida, morun, scrumbia era tot, tot. Muncea i fetele i femeile, i eu am muncit. Stavrida, hamsea, de tot... Da acum, de ce s-a disprut, asta nu tiu.]

41.07

Caviar production is essentially no different now to what it was like many thousands of

years ago.

41:13

The main difference is that nowadays the black gold is almost exclusively harvested from

farmed sturgeon. And that caviar is produced under clean room conditions. To get to the

precious eggs, the beluga must be killed. The roe is carefully sieved from the ovaries, then

salted. And that is almost it. Just a few little secrets of the trade, and theres your caviar.

41.45

Rosenthal

It contains many useful proteins and also very important fats. And the nutrient content is

very high. There is a nice story: - during the war between Russia and Poland, soldiers

were given pressed caviar to tide them over in an emergency because it has a high energy

content, but at the same time it is a light meal. [Es sind sehr viele gute Proteine drinnen, aber auch sehr wertvolle Fette. Und der Nhrwert ist sehr hoch.

Es gibt ja das schne Beispiel aus der Zeit des russisch-polnischen Krieges, wo die Soldaten als Notproviant

gepressten Kaviar mitbekommen haben, weil er energetisch sehr viel Kalorien enthlt und gleichzeitig aber

sehr leicht ist.]

42.09

Today, fish farms, globally, produce up to 200 tons of the astronomically priced luxury

delicacy. But it wasnt always like this. In the past, caviar cost little more than a kilo of

bread.


42.25

Dementi Cernamorit

The price of caviar used to be very low. I can still remember the times when one kilogram

of caviar or sturgeon meat cost seven Lei. This was next to nothing! [i ieftin, se vindea ieftin. Ieftin, la bani 7 lei era kilogramul de morun. Aproape nimica, icrele la fel.]

42.42

It is time for Floris operation, the window of opportunity is closing fast. Arcadie has to act

quickly.

42:52

Floris eggs can support the weight of a three-gram coin. This seems to be a good sign.

The downside is that Flori needed exceptionally strong hormone dosages to reach this

stage.

43.16

Vedrasco

Above all, the female must be in a good condition. We gave her another hormone

injection yesterday. Now she is in a condition that makes me hope we can retrieve the

eggs from her! [n primul rnd acea, care a fost injectat ieri, este ntr-o stare care mi d posibilitatea s sperm c obinem boabele n timp apropiat.]

43.38

Flori was anaesthetised for the operation. Arcadie has only a few minutes to get to her

eggs. 200 million years of evolution are at stake. A successful intervention would boost the

belugas chances of survival.

44.18

With a special technique, he tries to massage the eggs from the fishs stomach. There are

only few people who have mastered this method. But Flori resists Arcadies experienced

hands. She does not want to give up her eggs yet.


44:45

Slowly, Flori is starting to wake up. What Arcadie had feared is now sadly becoming a fact.

44.58

Vedrasco

The result is negative!

45.09

Vedrasco

The fish has inflammations as a result of traumatic injuries. She probably sustained them

when she was caught and transported here. With belugas, the age pyramid must be right.

The chain of generations must not be broken because they can only reproduce once every

few years. In nature, groups from different generations gather to mate. It is a big problem

that we have now lost one generation! [Problem of transportation and problem of catching. Obligatoriu n primul rnd trebuie s fie un lan de vrste. De obicei n eletee, cnd se formeaz loturi, trebuie s fie generaie din generaie mai als la sturioni, care depun o dat in 4 ani, obligatoriu c noi trebuie s avem un lot din an n an, i aa mai departe.]

46.03

The scientists of the Danube Delta Institute are in a race against time. In their search for

the habitats of the belugas, every day counts.

46.18

Radu

We started by trying to map the bottom of the river, in a place which we suspected from

the information coming from the fishermen, that it might be a very interesting spawning

site, spawning ground for sturgeons. We discovered at least now, two sites having these

limestone formations. These are ideal hiding places for the eggs of the Beluga. We

expected that this is only a spawning ground. But we discovered at least, two or three

large holes with the characteristic, abrupt profile. So the sturgeons can stay low by the

bottom, in very low water velocity, maybe zero water velocity. Which is like a overwintering

parking place for them!


47.13

Yet right here, the water of the Danube is to be diverted for the navigation project. This will

change the flow conditions in the river. Most probably, the spawning and the hibernation

sites will silt up.

47.26

Radu

The aim of our project is actually to look that this modification will not completely knock

down the sturgeons of this 100km Branch.

47.41

Rosenthal

If the Danube project is implemented as currently planned, without any compensation

measures, no doubt it will affect the sturgeons. And it will make the struggle to save them

even more difficult. [Wenn das Donau-Projekt so kommt, wie es jetzt angedacht ist, ohne Ausgleichsmanahmen, dann ist das

fr die Stre natrlich negativ, das ist gar keine Frage. Und es wird noch schwieriger sie zu erhalten.]

47.56

So where can a place be found for the worlds biggest freshwater fish? Will it only survive

in aquaria, to be put on show, and in fish farms to produce caviar?

48.08

Radu

I thought the last 20 years of my life that this will not happen. Sturgeons cannot and will

not survive in aquaria or in fish farms. They need to survive in the wild, in the river, in the

Black Sea. That is the only chance! This is not their future; this is not the way to ensure

their future.


48.29

Ronyai

I think that we are in the last minutes of the day. If we dont do all efforts, that they will be

disappeared from the Danube River. Soon, very soon!

48.54

For weeks on end, Flori knew no other home than Roberts fish farm. Now at long last she

is allowed to return to her world.

49.05

Rosenthal

Just imagine, these fish have been around much longer than many vertebrates. 220

million years, just think about it. As a thought experiment, let us also include the sharks

and rays, which have been here for 400 million years, and assume that everything since

then has happened in one single year. So the sharks and rays were born on 1 January,

say at four oclock in the morning if we give them four hours to hatch. The sturgeons would

have been born on 22 July at 4 oclock in the afternoon. Salmon and trout would have

entered the scene on 17 November at 6 oclock in the evening. And homo sapiens? We

would only have arrived three minutes and thirty seconds ago. But what is really bad and

frightening is this. It took us only 0.00000001 seconds to ruin this invaluable resource! [Man muss sich das klarmachen, diese Fische haben viel lnger berlebt, als viele unserer Wirbeltierarten

berhaupt existieren. Diese 220 Millionen Jahre lassen sie uns einmal anders veranschaulichen. Nehmen

wir noch die Haie und Rochen dazu, die 400 Millionen Jahre alt sind und wir schieben diese 400 Millionen

Jahre zusammen, auf ein Jahr. Dann sagen wir, dass die Haie und Rochen am 1. Januar um vier Uhr

morgens geboren sind, wir geben ihnen vier Stunden um aus den Eiern zu kommen. Dann sind die Stre am

22. Juli um 16 Uhr geboren. Die Lachse und Forellen, also alle Salmoniden, die sind erst am 17. November

um 18 Uhr auf diesem Planeten erschienen. Und wir Homo Sapiens sind erst vor drei Minuten und dreiig

Sekunden hier angekommen. Aber was das Schlimme ist, und das Erschreckende. Es hat uns nur

0,00000001 gedauert, dass wir diese Ressource kaputt gemacht haben!]


50.31

Flori will swim back to the Black Sea. There, she will live and hunt for just one purpose. To

swim up the Danube again in three to five years time to spawn.

50:46

By that time fishing for her will be legal again.

50.52

Cristea

Even if they make it legal again to fish for sturgeon, the black market will still exist. There

have always been those who have earned a lot of money on the fishermens back, and

they will not go away!

And this is why the sturgeon will soon be extinct! [Nu va aprea sub form legal, chiar dac i d drumul, deoarece vine concurena la negru. Exista, triesc... care triesc pe spinarea pescarilor! Nu va fi pete!]

billion dollar fish narration 0412

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