Sturgeon experts from 22 countries joined at the end of October one of the largest conferences on this topic, in Galati, Romania. One of the main attractions of the event was an exhibition prepared by Tudor Ionescu, researcher at "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, together with an well-known illustrator from Galati, Florian Doru Crihană.

”The first day of 2019 marked the birth of this exhibition when I have seen a painting of the Florian Doru Crihană – Tudor says. The first thought was that the sturgeons and their problems with which they are facing for centuries, could be better expressed through painting. I was sure that Florian will be able to bring to life true stories of Danube sturgeons. After many very pleasant meetings I managed to introduce him to the fantastic and mysterious story of the sturgeons. With the special style he managed to expose in 30 great paintings who talk about the incredible story of Danube Sturgeons”.

The exhibition will be presented to the large public starting January 2020 in Galati Art Galleries and hopelly next summer it will arrive in Bruxelles, at European Comission.

Here we have some details on three of Florian Doru Crihană’s works:

The irresponsible future

Without adequate measures to conserve and recover the population of wild sturgeons our descendants will commercially capture memories and regrets. Think of the future, not just the present because if we do not act now, museums will be the only places where we can see the most precious present of the Danube River (Ionescu & Chrihană, 2019).

The bycatch

Ignorance kills, and young sturgeons are increasingly vulnerable to commercial fishing gear. Empathy is rarely encountered in fishermen, who are blind to the desire for money, forget about their descendants and do not give a chance to the life of these "children" who die in vain and without future. Annually thousands of sturgeon chicks a few months old are heading down the Danube, towards the Black Sea where they will spend their lives until they reach maturity, but a part no longer reach and end sadly and ignored in the nets of blind comercial pseudo-fishermen (Ionescu & Chrihană, 2019).

The passage 

If the sturgeons could organize themselves in an association form through which they could claim respect for their fundamental rights in the street or be supported by financial interests that would help them open the "magic" doors of state institutions, maybe they will be able to solve their problems. The irony of the fate and the misfortune of the sturgeons is that they are not people and the navigation, energy sector and profit will always prevail in the face of these ungodly blessings (Ionescu & Chrihană, 2019).