Migratory fish species represent an economic and natural heritage of the Danube River Basin and are indicators of the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems, especially of the functionality of ecological corridors. The need for their conservation is recognised by the scientific community as well as at a high political and management level.

This topic will support the European Green Deal and the European Biodiversity Strategy, in particular its target of 25,000 km of free-flowing rivers, the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) and contribute to the Mission’s objectives.

These demonstration activities should appropriately combine measures focused on habitat availability, accessibility and connectivity with measures for the protection and restoration of critical habitats, such as spawning, nursery, feeding and wintering grounds. Activities could also aim at removing pressures to enable natural recovery of fish habitats.  The scale and range of the area for demonstration activities should be ecologically relevant and impactful and based on the recommendations and results of the previously mentioned projects.

The measures should be tailored to the specific river section(s) and related habitats and should contribute to improving the good ecological status and ecosystem services provided by key river ecosystems and habitats. Nature-based solutions and building with nature should be prioritised.

Training and communication activities addressing stakeholders, including regional and local authorities, as well as the ‘associated regions’, should be described in each proposal. Local actors, including where appropriate, the European Solidarity Corps and Mission Citizen Assemblies, should be involved in the demonstration activities.

Projects funded under this topic should:  

•  Show a significant replication potential by identifying areas and locations where the proposed solutions could be replicable. An action plan and roadmap needed for the replication and scale up of the solutions for fish habitat protection and restoration are expected to be drawn up by the end of the project;
• Include impact monitoring of the activities addressing fish habitats in the Danube River basin, including its delta, in cooperation with the Information System set up through previous projects such as MEASURES and relevant European Research Infrastructures. In addition, the project is expected to monitor the impacts and effectiveness of demonstration activities at a local scale. The project should link with the activities carried out under the Digital Twin Ocean, in particular those addressing freshwaters, and support data and knowledge sharing through the Ocean and Water Knowledge System, as well as benefiting from it to foster cross-region, pan-European approaches;
• Provide recommendations and guidance to align protection of migratory fish with regard to new policy measures and infrastructure projects and to strengthen cooperation across relevant sectors (water, navigation, fisheries, hydropower and energy, etc.).

Projects are also expected to integrate actions to support the social and economic transitions towards sustainable, inclusive and long-term management of the restored and protected ecosystems, including natural, social, economic and cultural elements and business models for generating revenue from the restored and protected ecosystems and involve for that purpose local business communities, in particular SMEs, investors and other business stakeholders.

The project funded under this topic should build links with:

• other Mission activities and other relevant activities within the lighthouse and its area to maximize synergies as well as with other Mission lighthouses and their activities;
• the Mission implementation monitoring system that will be part of the Mission Implementation Platform and with the Danube River basin lighthouse support facility and platform, for reporting, monitoring and coordination of all relevant implementation activities in the lighthouse area as well as with the Blue Parks technical support platform;
• the activities of the ICPDR as well as with the national and regional authorities with competence in the area of fish habitat conservation and protection.