The heart of the Huchen population beats on the Balkans
The heart of the Huchen population beats on the Balkans
Although self-sustaining populations of this flagship species can still be found, plans for new hydropower projects are putting this endangered species at further risk.
Without a master plan with no-go areas for hydropower
development, beautiful Balkan rivers like the Tara River
could be lost, and one of the most enigmatic species as well.
© Steven Weiss
The Huchen (Huchohucho) – also referred to as Danube Salmon – is a fascinating species. It is the top predator of our rivers - and is very rare. It is fast, strong, elegant and big. It’s probably the most popular fish species in the whole Danube basin, the only area on the planet where it exists. Fishermen love the Huchen and so do environmentalists, an unusual pairing of interests.
In 2013 EuroNatur and Riverwatch launched a campaign called ‘Save the Blue Heart of Europe’ to protect the rivers on the Balkan Peninsula. The Huchen was chosen as a flagship species for this campaign because it requires exactly what the campaign aims to preserve: healthy, freeflowing rivers with gravel beds and water that is rich in oxygen.
However, discussions with fish experts made clear that knowledge about the distribution of Huchen in Slovenia and Montenegro is extremely limited. Although several EU-funded Life+ projects to save small remaining populations in Germany and Austria have been launched, there is almost no information about the Huchen population in the core territory of the species.
To fill these knowledge gaps, the campaign team organised a study into the distribution of Huchen on the Balkans, as well as an assessment into any planned hydropower plants that could have a significant impact on Huchen. The results of both studies were astonishing.
Finding Huchen habitats. Jörg Freyhof, European Chair of the IUCN/SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group, from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, and Steven Weiss, from the Institute of the Zoology, Karl-Franzens University, Graz, coordinated the study into the distribution of the Huchen on the Balkans, which involved 18 experts from 7 countries.
Self-sustaining populations of Huchen were found in 43 rivers along a total length of 1,822 kilometres. This corresponds to 65% of all known Huchen stretches worldwide, highlighting the importance of Balkan rivers for the survival of the species. Moreover, the Balkans harbour nearly all major habitats for this species, including six of the seven river reaches greater than 100km long of global Huchen habitats: the Sava, Kolpa/Kupa, Una, Sana, Drina and Lim rivers.
That is the good news: the heart of the Huchen population beats strongly on the Balkans, but they are at risk. The major threat to the Huchen is hydropower development, and this threat is massive.
The Huchen populations at a crossroad. Dams change the physical and chemical conditions in the river fundamentally for the Huchen and are one of the major reasons for the enormous decline of the global population. The decision to build dams means one cannot have Huchen: you can have either Huchen or dams. You can´t have both.
An assessment conducted by Ulrich Schwarz, Consultant Engineer for Geography Fluvius Floodplain Ecology and River Basin Management, identified a total of 93 dam projects planned in river reaches supporting this remarkable species. At least 1,000 kilometres of Huchen rivers on the Balkans would be drowned by reservoirs or severely degraded by hydropeaking below the dams. “Balkan rivers are paramount for the survival of the Huchen. If these dams are constructed, we predict that about 70% of the Balkan population would be lost,” says Weiss.
“The consequences will be presumably even more dire since the remaining populations would be too small to be able to survive in the long run. The existence of Huchen and hydropower development is simply incompatible,” adds Freyhof.
One of the most important Huchen rivers in Europe is the Sava River in Slovenia. With its tributaries, the Sava provides 317 kilometres of habitats for Huchen – the second longest stretch on the Balkans, surpassed only by the Drina River. However, 11 dams are in the pipeline along the Sava, right in the middle of an EU Member State where Huchen are legally protected.
Opposition to the damming is rising, and not only from the environmental movement. More and more anglers are supporting the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign. “For us, the Huchen is the king of rivers. Wherever it lives, anglers from all over the world are willing to pay more for a fishing licence. Thus, the Huchen ultimately generates an increased income for the region. We support the Huchen and oppose the dams,” says Miroslav Zaberl, President of the Slovenian Angling Alliance, which represents 12,000 anglers in Slovenia.
The Huchen was chosen as a flagship species for the ‘Save the Blue Heart of Europe’ campaign because it requires exactly what the campaign aims to preserve: healthy, freeflowing rivers with gravel beds and water that is rich in oxygen.
Dam boom on Balkans.Unfortunately, the threat from dams is only one piece of a much larger problem on the Balkans. All in all, evidence reveals some 2000 dam projects proposed between Slovenia and Albania, and a recent study shows that the dam lobby ignores not only legally protected species like the Huchen, but also protected areas. About 535 hydropower plants are planned inside strictly protected sites – 113 of them in national parks.
To make matters worse, these dam projects are often supported by international financial institutions, banks and western companies. “The international financiers have not generally been as careful as they would have been if these things were being built in their courtyards,” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a recent interview with the Guardian. “It is the curse of poor countries.” Moreover, Rama said that he asked the EBRD to finance small-scale agricultural production instead, but “they were more interested in hydro”.
The aim of the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign is to stop this unregulated hydropower boom. A master plan for the Balkan rivers must be prepared with defined no-go areas for hydropower development. Otherwise we will lose the most beautiful rivers of Europe and one of the most enigmatic species of Europe’s freshwater fauna, the Huchen. That cannot be our vision for the Danube basin.
For more information about the Savethe Blue Heart of Europe campaign, please visit: www.balkanrivers.net. You can find the Huchen study here.
