Romanian conservationist Alex G\u0103van has once again reported a major pollution incident at the Br\u0103detu wastewater treatment plant, describing the V\u00e2lsan River as “poisoned for years” and calling the situation a public health emergency and an ecological disaster. The river is the only refuge of the\u00a0asprete,\u00a0the mysterious-looking ‘living fossil’ fish that G\u0103van and his team have been working to save from near-extinction under the Asprete Lives conservation project.<\/p>\n
“The river is dying before our eyes,” Alex G\u01cevan warned in a post on social media, urging authorities to enforce environmental laws.<\/p>\n
He said biologists accompanying him on a field mission confirmed that injuries observed on a barbel fish were caused by pollution.\u00a0Moreover, he stated that the team found only two specimens of the critically endangered<\/a> asprete<\/em> in an area where it “was once most abundant.”<\/p>\n “The issue is not (only) about the asprete or other fish species,” G\u0103van said. “A poisoned river means disease and death for people too, not just for wildlife.”<\/p>\n He compared the authorities’ inaction on the V\u00e2lsan case to previous ignored warnings that led to tragedies in Romania, including the Praid mine<\/a> collapse and the recent deadly infection cases at the hospital in Ia\u0219i<\/a>. “Everyone knew, and no one acted,” he wrote.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Alex G\u01cevan noted that the V\u00e2lsan River, situated in Arge\u0219 County, is part of a Natura 2000 protected site and a natural reserve. Despite repeated complaints filed over the years, he said no real improvements have been made to curb pollution from local wastewater discharge.<\/p>\n\n Unchanged for millions of years, the asprete is today the rarest freshwater fish species in Europe and one of the rarest in the world. Still rated critically endangered, it’s been resisting myriad threats despite being a protected species living in a protected area.\u00a0<\/p>\n The natural habitat of the\u00a0asprete (Romanichthys valsanicola)\u00a0has been shrinking since its first discovery in the late ’50s due to various threats like pollution or habitat fragmentation, and for years, the million-year-old species was believed to be extinct. In 2020,\u00a0Andrei Togor and Marcus Drimbea,\u00a0Asprete Lives\u00a0team members and ichthyologists,\u00a0managed to capture the fish on camera for the first time during the day<\/a>, confirming its existence on a small segment of the V\u00e2lsan River in the\u00a0Fa\u0306ga\u0306ras\u0326 Mountains.<\/p>\n In 2024, the Asprete Lives\u00a0<\/em>team also\u00a0photographed and filmed the rare fish after dark for the first time<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Further details about the Asprete Lives conservation project are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n