B L A C K  S E A  R E V I S I T E D

  The location - the islands of Babina and Cernovca, situated in the northern reaches of the Danube Delta near the Ukrainian-Romanian border. Originally connected to the natural flooding regime of the Delta, Babina was dammed off in 1985, and Cernovca in 1987, as part of the former communist regime's attempt to transform the swampland into agricultural land, in accordance with a 1983 program for "total exploitation" of the natural resources of the Danube Delta. The newly created polders, reclaimed from the water, were supposed to be used as arable land, although scientific studies made since 1911 showed that farming was not possible under the existing conditions.

  High dikes were raised around both polders to cut them off completely from the natural flooding regime, and because of the new modifications, low rainfall, sandy soils and high salinity, the two polders quickly became arid areas instead of becoming suitable for agriculture. Losing their original function as a wetland, even grazing became practically impossible on the newly desertified islands.

  In 1994, a restoration project was begun by the Danube Delta Research and Design Institute (DDRDI), based in Tulcea located on the Danube at the Delta's "gates." Technical assistance was provided by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) with main funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The first step was the restoration of the Babina polder back to a wetland which entailed breaching the dikes surrounding the 2,200-hectare area in four places. A similar action, with only two breaches, was undertaken in 1996 for the nearby 1,580-hectare Cernovca polder. The best way to restore the drained polders would have been to completely demolish the dikes surrounding them, said Marian Tudor, a representative of DDRDI. But due to financial as well as technical problems, only selected breaches were possible.

  The results of the Babina and Cernovca reclamation projects were recently disclosed in a report published by DDRDI and WWF Germany. The speed with which life returned to the flooded polders impressed both the researchers of the German-based WWF Institute for Floodplains Ecology and the researchers of the DDRDI. The islands have recovered their ecological functions as habitat for plants, birds and animals, habitat and spawning grounds for fish, a biodiversity reservoir ensuring the development of genetic resources, and as a bio-corridor.

  Other aspects of the project are equally important. The nutrient levels of water flowing out from the polders is now half the amount of what enters, says Erika Schneider from the WWF Auen Institut, thus reducing the eutrophication (over-fertilization of water) process. In recent years, the delta has experienced considerable stress due to eutrophication as it had lost its capacity to filter nutrients. The high nutrient input led to the production of phytoplankton (floating algae) which, when decomposing, uses oxygen from the water at the expense of fish. According to Romulus Stiuca, director of the DDRDI, the quantity of fish catches decreased from a peak of 15,000 tons per year in the past to the existing level of about 4,000 tons per year. The most recent figures, however, probably underestimate the real catch, because an equal quantity is supposedly poached and sold unregistered to the black market.

  A direct beneficiary of the restored nutrient filtering capacity will also be the Black Sea - another victim of substantial eutrophication. Both the Delta and Black Sea will benefit from the sediment retention function recovered by the two islands. And the inhabitants of the Delta will again be able to use the islands for traditional activities such as fishing, reed harvesting and grazing. The appeal of the area for eco-tourism could also improve, says Philip Weller, WWF coordinator of the Green Danube Programme, which develops activities in many Danubian countries.

  WWF, with over 5 million members, was created in 1961 and has since carried out or promoted over 11,000 projects in more than 150 countries. Its Green Danube Programme "aims to stop the increasing destruction of the Danube" by protecting its remaining natural areas and biodiversity and reducing "pollution which threatens the drinking water supply for millions of people."

- Alexandru Savulescu is Editor-in-Chief of Perspective,
the bulletin of the Romanian Environmental Journalists' Association.