Paper short abstract:

This paper presents a critical perspective on the consequences of the ten-year sturgeon-fishing ban (2006-2016) in the village of Hezra (Danube Delta - Romania) and its slow shift from a traditional fishing village into a touristic destination that completely revolutionized the inhabitants’ life.

Paper long abstract:

During the last twenty years, the village of Hezra, located inside the area of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, has witnessed rapid transformations of the regulations concerning the nature conservation and species protection. In 2006 Romania announced a ten-year ban on commercial fishing of wild sturgeons (Acipenseridae) that had a dramatic impact on the inhabitants of the Danube Delta. Information on the ban has been delivered overnight with no opportunity for the fishers to react or oppose. Moreover, the arrival of new "actors" (businessmen, fish traders) to the local scene, the so-called "strangers", changed the "landscape" even more leading to the construction of a touristic village, promotion and organization of festivals (i.e. Annual Independent Film Festival). In this presentation, I want to raise the questions of limits of nature conservation and conflict concerning the access to natural resources which left aside the local population and determined the social change undergone by this community of sturgeon fishers.