Danube Delta: A lost paradise

Human settlements in the Danube Delta. Man was present in the delta as far back as in antiquity, as attested by archeological discoveries at Chilia Veche and the Letea field. Lasting settlements are attested only from the XI-th-XII Th centuries and only at Chilia Veche and outside the delta, on the northern Doubruja continental extremity. The Venetian foreign trading post from Chilia, which is very close to the sea, according to commercial documents kept at the Libreria Marciana Venice, is very interesting. Speaking only about the interior of the delta, and not about the Dobrudja extremity, the Delta was inhabited even from Stephen's the Great time, by the Moldavian shepherd's moving of flocks. The Chilia Noua fortified town, situated in the location with the same name, on the northern bank of the Chilia branch in the Bugeac plateau, constituted the gateway of the delta. Grazing was practiced in autumn and winter, until early spring, on the fluvial and marine banks and fields. Temporary settlements were called "cîsle", an ecumene that is frequent even nowadays. The first permanent settlement inhabited especially by Moldavian shepherds was Satul Nou, situated in the central part of the Letea marine field. The Russian rule after 1826 changed the name of the village into Satanov, and after the Romanian state took over the delta, it was called C.A. Rosetti. The Russian Empire led a colonization policy, intensely practices between the years 1826-1827, with Zaporojean Cossacks form the Dnieper and with Lippovans from the Inferior Don. The European Commission map of the Danube from 1870 specifies 14 villages inside the delta and Sulina town. Most of the villages have Russian or Ukrainian names. The Vidrascu map from 1910 specifies 22 villages and Sulina town, meaning that in 40 years, the number of the settlements inside the delta increased with 8 villages, most of them resulted from the colonization supported by the Administration of the State Fish Markets, under Gr. Antipa's leadership, who set regulations for the colonization operations in the delta. Patlageanca village, nearby the Ismail islet, built by PARID (The General Administration of Fish Markets and of Easily Flooded Regions Improvement) at the beginning of the century is an instance. Before World War II, the number of towns had reached 26. At present, inside the delta are 22 villages, most of them having a population of 100-250 inhabitants. The only town in the delta is Sulina, which now has almost 5000 inhabitants. An unusual sensation was made by the old character of this town, starting from the name Sollina that appears at the mouth of the Sulina branch, on Constantin VII-th Porphirogenetul's map in 950. The position of the mouth of the Sulina branch at the beginning of the second millennium was totally different, and its evolution has been very active for the last few hundreds of years. Moreover, in the middle of the last century the European Commission of the Danube (CED) found only a few boats and huts inhabited by fishermen and pirates. That is why, we suppose that the existence of an old town that might prove the presence of a certain position of the Sulina branch mouth, is out of question. It was a mere little hamlet, which moved at the same time with the evolution of the mouth. The development of Sulina town started together with the setting up of the CED headquarters and at the same time with the initiatives of the sailing insurance actions on the branch. Shortly, the small settlement of huts became a restless free-port cosmopolitan town. At present, the town is going through a difficult economic period which, nevertheless has not led to a degradation of life standards, the town being clean and people hoping for a better future. In 1992 the population of the delta was 15.950 inhabitants.

Human pressure on the Danube Delta. For a long-time, human pressure on the delta has been conservative, both owing to the traditional way of employing the resources, and to the reduced number of inhabitants. The first impact occurred at the end of the last century, when the Sulina canal was revamped for navigation. The cutting of the meanders and the banks consolidation broke the unity of the delta and changed the flowing regime. Gr. Antipa launched the second strong impact at the beginning of the century in view of increasing the fish markets productivity and cutting out scores of kilometers of canal carried it out in order to insure the water flowing between the branches of the Danube and the marshes. The third significant intervention took place from 1950 to 1970 and it aimed at the exploiting of reed plot.
As a result, dams were built, new canals were cut out, a great deal of pumping stations for monitoring the water levels from the dammed precincts were built. At the mouth of the Sulina branch the dams protecting the canal admittance, advance 250-300 m a year determining the modification of the entire littoral regime. At the same time, the laying egg colonies of pelicans, cormorants and herons are destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of birds got shot. While at the beginning of the century there were about 10-15 million birds in the delta, after World War II there were 7 million, and in 70's, about 500000. It is the period of extremely aggressive human activities, which affect the whole area of the delta, producing the most profound changes in its history. The fourth period of revamping of the delta had an agricultural character and took place in the 80's. It was then that the great polders Sireasa and Pardina were dammed up and drained, and 22 enclosures with a total area of 53.505 hectares. Other piscicultural or forest revamping required the building of new dams, thus at the end of the 80's, the total dammed area inside the delta was 103.385 hectares. Reviewing, the forms of human pressure on the delta are, on the one hand, conservative by traditional fishing, grazing, tourism, and on the other hand, they are destructive by transports, pisciculture, agriculture, sylviculture, thicket planning and by fighting against species that are considered harmful.
Nature preservation in the Danube Delta. The idea of nature preservation is not new. In 1938,a part of the Letea forests was declared natural monument. At the beginning of the '50s the commission of Natural Monuments drew up the first plan of establishing a network of reservations and refuges, which became operational in 1961 and which was made up of 7 reservation with a total area of 41500 hectares (9,4% of deltas area), among which the most important are Rosca-Buhaiova (14500 hectares), Perisor Zatoane (14200 hectares), Periteasca Leahova (3900 hectares), Caraorman (3000 hectares). The complex reclaiming process of natural resources in the Danube Delta fulfilled in 1975, demanded the setting up of a national park with a total area of about 200000 hectares, of which 90000 hectares should stand for strictly preserved scientific reservations. Unfortunately, this stipulation of the above mentioned project has not been applied. The nature of the Danube Delta has to be preserved for its biodiversity and for its landscapes which are unique in Europe, for its role of controlling the stability in the costal environment, for its fragility and as our moral task to transmit this wonderful space to our successor; it has to be preserved because it gives us a better grasp of our structure and of natural phenomena. The Delta offers a great deal of resources, but they are limited. One cannot fish as much as one likes or no matter when without destroying the piscicultural substance. Every human action is limited in time and space, as the support capacity of the delta is limited itself and the transformation that arise may become irreversible at any time. That is why the setting up of the Reservation of the Danube Delta Biosphere has been the only rational solution for the preservation of the delta and for the survival of its inhabitants.