SPECULATING CALAMITIES Hidden interests at the Cat"s Bend

• The real business: black caviar

But the real stake in the area is not small fry fishing, as fishermen would say, but rather sturgeon fishing, whose eggs sell for thousands of Euros per kilogram.

At Cotul Pisicii, the Danube is only 20 m deep, which facilitates the catching of large fish, which come there to lay their eggs. Experts in the area, which chose to remain anonymous, said: "The price for a kilogram of black caviar starts, called < caviar royal-black >, starts at 1,000 Euros in Dobrogea and can reach 5,000 Euros in Paris and even 15,000 Euros in New York. Cotul Pisicii has become one of the best places for fishing sturgeons, since this is their reproduction area, as, before the construction of the dam at Porţile de Fier (Iron Gate), sturgeons would go up the Danube all the way to Budapest".

• The fishermen of Cotul Pisicii would have wanted the area flooded to see their profits increase

• The breaking of the dam that protects Galaţi would have led to the appearance of a new major lake

• The political squabbling for the monopoly of exploiting sturgeons has caused Romania to lose its leading position when it comes to the quality of sturgeon eggs

There are areas in the country whose residents would have liked to be flooded, who precisely because of the disaster that was avoided missed out on profits of tens of millions of Euros.

One such example is Cotul Pisicii, an area which has become notorious after the recent floods caused by the Danube, when the breaking of the dam was suggested to protect one of the neighborhoods of Galaţi.

Cotul Pisicii was supposed to be the rescue of Romania"s most important metallurgic city - which is now being threatened on all sides by the waters of the Danube and of the rivers Prut and Siret.

However, not many are aware of the fact that many of villagers in the Cotul Pisicii area would have liked for the protective dam to be pulled down, which would have caused some of the farmlands in the area to turn into fishing areas.

The Lotca Group of Producers is one of the associations that has received the fishing license for the Cotul Pisicii area this year. The head of the group, Jan Mirică is blunt: "For people in the area it would have been better if the dam in the Cotul Pisicii had been pulled down because according to our estimates, the farmlands in the area would have turned into a lake with a length of 40 km and a width of 15 km, similar to the lake Razim, and the fishing opportunities would have increased without affecting the cities".

Jan Mirică claims if the dam had been allowed to break, the area would have reverted to its natural state, because during the Ceauşescu regime, a lot of farming areas where created by draining ponds in the region: "Many people here in the Cotul Pisicii area, would have liked to see these lands become ponds again, because these farmland areas which belong to two or three people at best aren"t being exploited anyway for the most part".

• Some experts agree with the suggestion of flooding of the fields as well

Even though the Lotca Group of Producers is based in Galaţi, and the town of Grindu, which is located near Cotul Pisicii, is in the North-West of the county of Tulcea, the statements of Jan Mirică of Galaţi about the residents of the neighboring county of Tulcea are grounded in the past history of the region.

The economy of the Cotul Pisicii area collapsed in the `80s, after the ponds of Crapina were drained in order to use the land for agricultural purposes. A large number of the natives still remember those ponds, located on the right bank of the Danube, which were the fief of fishermen and hunters: even the poorest locals ate carp, catfish, and even caviar.

After the draining of the ponds, many villagers were forced to go from fishing rods and fisheries to scythes and tractors, others moved to Galaţi to work in the city"s industry.

In time, the farmland became infertile due to the excessive amount of salt, and specialists are already suggesting restoring the ponds in an ecologic manner, precisely by flooding the farmlands in the area.

According to them, the area would thus return to its traditional activity, which would lead to the development of industry and tourism in the area. The recreation of the lakes of Crapina would also lower the risk of flooding for the city of Galaţi.

The restoration of the wild lakes would have taken some time due to the accumulation of alluviums, but locals claim that the area could have quickly become profitable thanks to fishing.

• Fishermen are asking for their rights to fish sturgeon

The associations of fishermen are extremely unhappy with the fact that they can"t fish sturgeon, as Ukrainian and Bulgarian fishermen are allowed to do so, and are asking for a quick remedy to this issue.

The Fishing Producers" Association Condorul, one of the five organization that obtained a fishing license in the area of Cotul Pisicii, announced that it wanted to file an official complaint requesting the remediation of the aforementioned issue.

Sevastian Constantin, the chairman of the organization, said: "We want to take an official action requesting the restoration of our right to fish sturgeon. The current situation is absurd: Romanian fishermen aren"t allowed to fish sturgeon, whereas their Ukrainian and Bulgarian counterparts don"t have this restriction. The state would also raise additional taxes, from the sale of fish and fish eggs. Everyone would win".

According to him, the repopulation of the Danube with sturgeons has been solved, and the lifting of the sturgeon fishing restriction would help people in the area, whose financial situation is not good: "The authorities should investigate, they would then find that following the repopulation process, the Danube has enough sturgeons. If the fishing restrictions were lifted, this would help the financial situation of the locals as well as the issue of illegal fishing".

• Restrictions prevent the local fishermen from making a living

The fishermen say that the current fishing restrictions in place prevent them from supporting their families.

A letter signed by the Fishing Producers" Association Condorul and by the Professional Fishermen"s Association Kaviar sent to the prefect, complains about the fact that people aren"t allowed to fish at night, and are prohibited from fishing for several months a year, even though for most of them and their families fishing represents their only source of income.

The quoted document states: "The prohibition of fishing basically sentences 500-700 people to starve. Many of those who used to fish, were forced to leave due to the difficult conditions and the hardships they have encountered to secure their daily bread".

Sevastian Constantin, the president of the Fishing Producers" Association Condorul, stated the following: "We are facing many restrictions but the authorities have assured us that this issue will be solved. Basically, this year will be very more difficult for us because we have secured the fishing license very late (24th of March), and the best part of the fishing season ends in May. Summer months are < dead > for us, it"s only in September that things start to improve. For us it would be very good if these issues were solved, especially since we only manage to fish for a few months every year".

• Cotul Pisicii: a strategic area for the EU and NATO

The location where all of the above are happening are taking place in a place that is unique in Europe. Cotul Pisicii is a location of geostrategic importance for the EU and the NATO. From this beautiful location on the Danube the borders of the EU and of NATO are visible as well as those of two other countries which have an exit to the Maritime Danube: Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Cotul Pisicii is located downstream from Galaţi, near the settlement of Grindu, and in this area the Danube river has a depth of 20 m. The name of the location comes from the old name of the settlement - Pisica (Cotul Pisicii - The Cat"s Bend).

• Political poaching

But Cotul Pisicii, which is in fact a bend of the Danube, has become a true battleground for politicians, and this has had repercussions both on the economy of the area, as well as Romania"s reputation on an international level.

Experts in the area explained: "Precisely because of all this potential, there are many po0litical ambitions and dealings in this area. It is a known fact that the PSD (Social Democrat Party) had hogged all of the fishing resources of the Delta. As a result, in order to secure the votes of the Lipovans and of the local fishermen, the Democratic Liberal Party (PD-L), promised them it would break the monopoly of the PSD and would restrict the fishing of sturgeons. But it is the liberals that have broken up the business fief of the PSD in the area by issuing a law which has prohibited sturgeon fishing for ten years. The bad thing is that liberals, after dismantling the business the PSD had in the area, did not provide a strategy to help economic development in the area, and when the restrictions on sturgeon fishing were introduced, even though they had the noble goal of conserving the natural aquatic resources, they did nothing to reduce poaching, which continued unabated".

• How we lost our world supremacy in the caviar trade

Right now, not only has the fishing of sturgeons for commercial purposes been prohibited, but Romania has also lost its world supremacy when it comes to the quality of sturgeon fish eggs, experts claim. "After the fishing restriction was introduced in 2006, Romania lost its world supremacy when it comes to the quality of sturgeon eggs, which caused losses of tens of millions of Euros", said Jan Mirică.

Right now, only fishing for artificial reproduction is allowed, and last year a program intended to repopulate the Danube with sturgeons was launched.

The leader of the The Lotca Group of Producers also considers that due to political interests, locals are now left looking enviously at their Bulgarian and Ukrainian neighbors which don"t have restrictions on sturgeon fishing.