WETLAND MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION PROJECTS IN THE LOWER PRUT BASIN RELATED TO EFFECTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES

Florin Vartolomei, Faculty of Geography, SPIRU HARET University, Romania

Abstract

The pressure of economic development from the last 50 years in the area of Prut river, the protection measures against floods by building dams in the major river bed and the building of the hydrotechnical knot Stânca-Costeşti have been the causes of the transformation of the typical habitats in the humid areas at the border of Prut river, thus of the flood area favouring the breeding of fish and birds, endangering the ecological integrity of the area eco-system complex.
In the past, Romanian Waters National Company the main manager of the water resources from Romania has started the preparation at the request of the Ministry of Water Forest and Environment Protection the inventory of the wetland and floodplains at national level, including the potential for restoration according with the particular case from Romania, where the process of land restitution to the previous owners is one important problem even in present time. In Prut catchment area is presented a large number of existing wetlands with a large restoration potential (about 200 wetlands recorded for whole Prut basin, many of them are less than 1 sqkm surface).
It has to be mentioned that several wetlands which in present are in natural stage are included or will be included in the List of Protected Areas under the legislation preservation. In this regard the planning of wetlands and floodplains rehabilitation is underdevelopment and will depend by the finalization of the land restitution action.
For all the types of existing habitats housing a large variety of fauna (especially avifauna), sedentary as well as migrating or passing fauna, the Maţa – Rădeanu humid area, with a surface of 386 ha, is similar to the special preservation areas from the Danube Delta.
Among the protected areas within lower Prut basin, according to the criteria of habitat identification, three of them (Ostrovul Prut, Lower Prut river meadow and Vlascuta swamp) have been indicated to include some wetlands as well.
Also, we propose the following potential demonstration sites for wetland management and restoration projects in the Lower Prut basin: Prut flood plain, downstream of Sovarca swamp, up to the mouth point in the Danube; Brates Lake located NE from Galaţi city, connected with the Prut.river by the valley of Ghimia brook and Horincea hydrographical basin.
The most important aspects are the technical (technical works for effective exploitation of water resources and the role improvement works combined with fish farming biotechnology) and organizational ones (decision-makers involved and the specific tasks).