TheDanubeDelta

The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR):

A little background…

The Danube Delta was declared a biosphere reserve by the Romanian government in 1990 and was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 1991. The Delta lies on the Black Sea coast, at the culmination of the Danube River through its 2840-km. journey eastward through Europe. The delta region lies 80% in Romania and 20% in the Ukraine, covering a total of 580,000 hectares. It is the only delta in the world declared a biosphere reserve.

The biosphere reserve is divided into three types of zones. The first is the strictly protected areas. There are currently 18 protected reserves that are strictly off-limits to anglers and tourists. The whole delta is included in the World Heritage list. Covering a total of 50,600 hectares, these ecosystems support the most sensitive species found in the biosphere reserve. The second area is called a buffer zone. Numbering 13 and covering a total of 223,300 hectares, these areas are designed to mitigate the impact of human activities on the aformentioned zones. Economic zones covering 306,100 hectares are the third type of zone. As the name suggests, these are areas where traditional activities, such as fishing and farming, are allowed.

The Delta’s three arms form the largest and best preserved delta in Europe. Its wetland of marshes, floating reed islets, and sandbars was declared by the UNESCO to be the third most important in the world, after the deltas of the Amazon and the Nile. In addition, its reed marshes covering 156,300 hectares is the largest single expanse of reedbeds existing in the world.

Over 80% of the delta area is water. There are countless canals, tree-fringed lakes, reed islands, and pools of water lilies. There are creeks, swamps, lagoons, channels, and exotic backwaters. The delta plain is largely made up of roseau cane, marshes, and fresh-water lakes 3-4 m. deep. The marshes (1/2 – 3 m. deep) are important because they provide a major nesting place for waterfowl. The estuaries are important in that they form the spawning ground for many marine species.

By global standards, the delta is young. It is Europe’s youngest land and neighbors some of the planet’s oldest mountains (Macin Massif). It was hardly more than a shallow indentation in the Black Sea coastline 6.5 billion years ago. It grew because of the huge quantities of silt which the river deposited – it is presumed that 80 million tons were dumped there every year. Today, mean annual discharge is 122 million tons, and the shoals are moving outwards into the sea at a rate of between 80 to 100 feet per year. Forty-seven square yards are added each year in the delta by normal silting action. The channels have shifted with time in response to subtle changes in slope, thus supplying sediment to all parts of the delta. The quantity of alluvia is decreasing, however, due to barrages built in different countries along the Danube’s path.

The delta is continually changing, metamorphosing – a maze of backwaters, creeks, rainforest, and sand dunes. It is no wonder that historical references differ: ancient accounts give it 5 arms, then 7, then 6…. It was in the mid-19th century that an English captain drew a map closer to reality – or, closer to his time’s reality, since the coastline has already changed. The lighthouses built on the seashore in the 19th century in the port towns of Sulina and Sfintu Gheorghe now stand several kilometers behind the coastline!

Flora and Fauna and Man…

The DDBR hosts an incredible array of lifeforms in a relatively small area and includes 30 different types of ecosystems. It is home to over 1200 species of plants and trees, and 160 species of fish. Catfish is now the most prominent species. Other species have declined dramatically since the 1960’s, mostly because of pollution and because of the raw sewage that is dumped around the river deltas. Carp, pike, sheat fish, and perch are still common.

The Delta is known for its important collection of bird species (numbering over 300), including many of which are seldom or never seen in western or northern Europe. As a result, many avid bird watchers come here to see species that they can’t see elsewhere. The most characteristic bird of the delta is the white pelican, whose numbers in the region (8000) are greater than anywhere else in the world and whose breeding grounds are off-limits to tourists. But there are other important bird populations in the delta. There are 200 of the rare dalmation pelicans, more than in the rest of Europe; 50% of the world population of the red-breasted goose; 60% of the world population of the pygmy cormorant; and every species of heron found in Europe. In addition, we find the little egret, the glossy ibis, the spoonbill, the white-tailed eagle, and the white stork.

Mammals can be found in those areas circumvented by the water. One can find the fox, worlf, hare, wild boar, muskrat, otter, mink, and wildcat. Also on the land, you may find tortoises, vipers, and snakes. A lot of snakes.

Man has inhabited the delta since ancient times. Greeks, Romans, and Byzantine civilizations have all left their mark on the region and the inhabitants of the Delta. Ethnic groups of Ukranians, Bulgarians, Moldovans, Transylvanians, and gypsies have mixed to form a special rural civilization. As those who have settled have preserved their lifestyle, customs, and religion, the history of the region emerges as a mixture of cultures that has coexisted side by side for many centuries.

The modern-day Delta is scattered with infrequent and modest settlements, 25 in total, for a total of 15,000 inhabitants. Half of them live in the main port town of Sulina. The work here is physical. Fishing provides most of the area’s inhabitants with a livelihood. As can be expected, fish represents the staple of the diet. The fish is prepared in a multitude of ways: braised carp, fried fish with garlic sauce, fish grilled in special brine, boiled crawfish, plachie (a meal made with onion and oil), minced fish rolled in cabbage, pastry made with fish, and bortsch de peste pescuit (literally soup of freshly-caught fish), made of several types of steamed and simmered fish with herbs, onions, and garlic.

A little tourist action…

The Delta is unique in its beauty. It attracts birdwatchers, amateur fishermen, and photographers. Since the classification of the region as a UNESCO site in 1990, the delta has slowly begun attracting more visitors. It expects to attract more as it prepares for its inclusion in the EU. Pensions and guesthouses are preparing for increasing numbers of tourists, although their number and location is restricted by the DDBRA.

The Danube reaches the port city of Tulcea before branching off into its three arms: the Chilia, the northernmost arm along the Ukranian border; the Sulina arm, the central and most-travelled arm; and the Sfintu Gheorghe, the most wild, least populated southern arm, which empties into the Black Sea. There is no road network in the delta; all travel must be accomplished by boat or ferry.

We accordingly took a ferry along the southern arm to Sfintu Gheorghe, a small fishing village-cum-port little known as a tourist destination but located several kilometers off the coast, which has huge sand dunes and wild beauty. Its main attraction is its isolation and its lighthouse. We camped on the beach just at the point where the Danube jets its waters into the Black Sea. We also took a ferry to the fishing village of Crisan, located on the central Sulina channel. From there, we explored the wetlands area by rowboat, motorboat, and canoe, the village by bike, and the 500-year old forest of Letea with its steppes and sand dunes by tractor and by foot. To read more about our experiences in the delta, please read the section entitled “The Delta of the Danube” under the journal entries for Romania.

Interview with the Director of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority (DDBRA)…

We obtained an interview with Mr. Virgil Munteanu, the director of the DDBRA, who talked to us about the nature of the Delta, its dangers, the measures taken for its protection, its economics, and its inhabitants. The DDBRA was created in 1990 in response to the ecological disaster which befell the region after Ceausescu’s failed attempt to drain the wetlands for agricultural purposes. Efforts to save the delta began in earnest after the UNESCO designated the area a Biosphere Reserve in the same year. The following year, it was included in the program “Man and Biosphere.”

The DDBRA is a regional environmental authority and manages the natural heritage of the delta through the conservation and protection of the existing natural heritage, through the encouragement of the sustainable use of its natural resources, and by providing support for the management, education, training, and services in the area. Certain area are designated for ecological restoration. In 1993, the Romanian parliament passed a law to protect the biosphere reserve.

Twenty percent of the delta region is managed by the regional government; 80% is managed by a state institution. It is this 80% that is managed by the DDBRA. It works in collaboration with a research institution which is an annex of the DDBRA. It is an institution for the research and development of the delta. The different domaines of research are centered upon such things as the biodiversity, inventory, reconstruction, and the level of exploitation. The last report issued by the research institution was in 2002.

All economic activities must be approved by the DDBRA and the Science Academy. Even traditional economic activites, such as fishing, cattle raising, and limited tourism must be approved. Agricultural zones are limited and are decreasing. Currently, agricultural zones represent 36,000 hectares; 10,000 hectares have been rebuilt since 1994.

The delta was divided into three zones in 1993: 1) the strictly prohibited zones (only small parts can be visited with a special permit and with a guide from the DDBRA) – the rest is only accessible to researchers; 2) buffer zones (allows fishing, tourism, the raising of cattle, but no new construction); and 3) economic zones (houses and hotels may be built, but only with the authorization of the DDBRA).

The region was declared a transfrontier reserve with the Ukraine in 1999 thanks to the program “Man and Biosphere.” Research has since become common on the vegetation of the region. Their last joint effort was producing a map of the bird colonies in both countries.

Because Romania will soon become a part of the EU, tourism is expected to increase. This has led the DDBRA to work on a strategy for the development of tourism, without increasing other economic sectors and without spreading tourism into areas of the delta which are currently off-limits. There is investment pressure to expand these areas, however.

There are several factors which threaten the biosphere reserve, as Mr. Munteanu sees it. The first is coastal erosion (although the coast advances into the Sea every year, the Danube causes erosion in other parts of the Delta). The second is the illegal exploitation of natural resources, ie. mostly poaching. To prevent poaching, there are rangers, frontier police, and regular police officers. A third danger is investment pressure, ie. investors who exercise pressure to build roadways to connect Tulcea to villages and towns in the delta.

When we asked about pollution, Mr. Munteanu said that there is no industrial pollution. However, it has been documented that deforestation and polluting industries are adding to the damages as a whole which are threatening what is considered perhaps the most important avian breeding ground in Europe. In addition, the dumping of raw sewage on the Black Sea’s northwest shelf has drastically affected fish supplies, as well as health. It has only been as recent as 1996-97 that some villages have received fresh water supplies. Before that, a few cases of cholera were reported each year.

Regarding the cyanide leak into the Danube in Romania in the year 2000, the Director insists that there were no repercussions in the delta, and that no incidence of cyanide appeared in the scientific reports. He suggested that the reports in the Western media were grossly exaggerated.

Research since 1990 has actually shown that certain species of birds and fish that were supposedly extinct still exist. Research also turned up species that were previously not known to exist in Romania. Other species are new to the international research community and are currently without name. Certain species are still threatened with extinction, however, such as the dalmation pelican and the sturgeon.

Different educational programs have been undertaken in Tulcea and other villages of the region. We saw school classes visiting the DDBRA center, which has educational information on the delta.