
The City of Vienna has announced it is building a floating breeding station for the endangered Danube sturgeon, aiming to release 1.6 million young fish into the wild by 2030.
Two of the six sturgeon species are already extinct in the Danube. To save the four remaining species – Sterlet, Waxdick, Sternhausen, and Hausen – the LIFE-Boat 4 Sturgeon project will convert an old stone transport ship into a breeding station. Juvenile sturgeon will be raised on the 64-metre long, 10-metre wide vessel before being released into different parts of the Danube.
The rearing program aims to maintain a living gene pool, stabilising the sturgeon population in the river until natural reproduction becomes viable again.
The project is co-financed by the EU and is a partnership between the City of Vienna, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management, and the waterway operator viadonau, which is providing the ship.
Vienna’s MA45 department (Vienna Waterways) is responsible for constructing the ship’s mooring station on the Danube, complete with the necessary infrastructure. This includes concrete foundations, a steel access bridge, electricity, fresh water supply, a well, and paved access roads. The mooring station is expected to be finished by mid-January.
The City of Vienna has already raised over 240,000 sturgeon on a container ship on the Danube Island. City Councillor Ulli Sima hailed the previous project as a “success story,” adding: “This new project is the next big step in protecting the endangered sturgeon species in the Danube.”
Plans are also in place to establish additional facilities outside of Austria, including a station for sturgeon mothers on the Koros River in Hungary and a rearing container along the Mura River in Slovenia.