Posted on April, 10 2025

Few species on Earth are closer to extinction than sturgeons — a group of prehistoric giant fish that have survived for over 200 million years, only to become one of the most critically endangered animals alive today.

In a bold step to reverse their decline, Europe’s first floating sturgeon breeding station was ceremonially opened in Vienna today. The 66-metre-long ship MS Negrelli, now docked in the heart of the city on the Danube Island, will serve as a facility to build a captive broodstock as living gene bank and for raising juvenile sturgeons from the last four remaining native species in the river.

Around 1.6 million baby fish are expected to be reared in the project and released into the wild by 2030.
 
The urgency behind these reintroduction efforts stems from the fact that these living fossils are slipping towards extinction — driven by habitat loss, blocked migration routes, and the illegal caviar trade. Despite strict fishing bans, persistent poaching and black-market demand continue to threaten their survival.
 
The significance of the project was reflected in the strong political support it has received at the Austrian federal level. Norbert Totschnig, Federal Ministry Agriculture and Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management (BMLUK) and Peter Hanke, Federal Minister for Finance, Economy, Labour, International Affairs and Innovation (BMIMI), both welcomed the initiative, highlighting its importance for biodiversity and the protection of endangered species in the Danube region.
 
The opening ceremony was attended by Monika Mörth, Head of Water Management Directorate (BML), Ulli Sima, City Councilor of the City of Vienna, Hans-Peter Hasenbichler, CEO of viadonau (Austria's waterway administration) and Eva Schulev-Steindl, rector of the BOKU university.
 
Sturgeons are indicators of clean, free-flowing rivers, which are essential for drinking water, fisheries, flood protection, and recreation. “Their survival reflects the broader well-being of the Danube, Europe’s second longest river,” shared Andreas Beckmann, WWF Central and Eastern Europe CEO at the ribbon-cutting event. “By protecting sturgeons, we’re also safeguarding the ecosystems that support biodiversity, livelihoods, and resilient communities all along the river’s course.”
 
The breeding center launch is part of the EU-funded LIFE-Boat4Sturgeon initiative, coordinated by BOKU University. WWF forms part of the international partnership including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management (BMLUK), the City of Vienna, Revivo in Slovenia, MATE in Hungary, and viadonau - Austria's waterway authority, which provided the former stone transporting vessel MS Negrelli. The ship was converted in the last months to hold 35 tanks to breed and rear 4 different species of Danube sturgeons.
 
From early summer, visitors will be able to experience the project first-hand through guided tours on the MS Negrelli.
 
A cross-border effort to save a species
 
While the MS Negrelli remains anchored in Vienna, the sturgeon’s journey stretches far beyond. Three of the species bred in Vienna will travel to the Black Sea and spend several years in salt water before returning back to the Danube. As the Iron Gates located in Serbia and Romania still pose an unpassable obstacle, they will only be released downstream. In the Lower Danube, WWF is working in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine to give young sturgeons a fighting chance — by supporting local conservation and anti-poaching efforts, overseeing the releases.
 
“We’re incredibly proud to be part of this effort,” said Beate Striebel, WWF Sturgeon Initiative Lead. “But releasing the fish is just one part of the story. In the Lower Danube, we work closely with fishers, local communities and fishing enforcement agencies to make sure these tiny sturgeons get the safest start possible. The risks are enormous — from entanglement in fishing nets to natural predators — but some will make it. And those few can help bring these ancient species back from the brink of extinction.”
 
“Only with an interdisciplinary, multinational approach, maintaining efforts over the long-term, we will be able to save these enigmatic species from extinction” highlights Thomas Friedrich, Project Manager from BOKU University, emphasizing the multiple stressors and long restoration timespans due to late maturity of these animals.
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Key facts about sturgeon
 

• Sturgeons are dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. They survived the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Their prehistoric lineage has barely changed since the Jurassic era, earning them the nickname “living fossils.”
• Some sturgeon species can grow over 6 metres long and weigh more than 1,000 kg — making them some of the largest freshwater fish in the world.
• Sturgeons can live up to 200 years, but some species only reach sexual maturity at 10–20 years, and don’t spawn every year. This makes population recovery painfully slow.
• Sturgeon roe, known as caviar, has been so valuable that it drove overfishing and poaching, pushing the species to the brink of extinction.
• WWF and partners helped push for and enforce bans on commercial wild sturgeon fishing in the Danube countries — but illegal trade still threatens their survival.
• Because they require clean, and well-functioning river systems connected to marine waters, sturgeons are considered “umbrella species” — protecting them helps restore whole freshwater ecosystems.
• The four sturgeon species bred on the LIFE-Boat are the pure freshwater species, sterlet, which will be mainly released in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia, and the 3 anadromous species beluga, Russian sturgeon and stellate sturgeon.
• Anadromous sturgeon migrate hundreds to thousands of kilometers between rivers and the sea. Dams and river fragmentation have made this journey almost impossible in many regions.