Fishers holding sport, amateur or recreational licenses may catch Pontic shad, also known as Black Sea shad (Alosa immaculata) in the Nistru River for 33 consecutive days starting May 14, under an order issued by the Environment Agency.

The Agency says the purpose is to regulate fishing for Pontic shad during migration and to maintain an optimal reproductive potential and numbers of this species.

Under the order, fishing for Pontic shad is allowed only during the day from sunrise to sunset, with rods of all shapes and systems. It is allowed to fish in areas from the Dubasari dam down to the village of Palanca (km28) and in the Turunciuc branch. At the same time, the number of hooks for an amateur fisherman must not exceed five for all gear used, and the catch must not exceed five kilograms per day.

It is forbidden to fish for Pontic shad one hundred meters upstream and downstream of bridges over the Nistru, but also at the mouth of the river Dniester of the tributaries Răut, Ichel, Bâc, and Botna at a distance of 500 meters from either side of the mouth and in the course of these tributaries at a distance of 500 meters from the confluence, in the Turunciuc branch on the course of the water at a distance of 500 m from the branch. It is also forbidden to fish in the Nistru from the dam of Dubasari reservoir lake at a distance of 300 meters downstream and in the Nistru on the sectors of 100 meters upstream and downstream of the supply mouths of ponds and lakes. Fishing is also prohibited in the Danube River.

The Pontic shad fishing rules have been developed by the Environment Agency in partnership with the Zoology Institute, the Ecology and Geography Institute, the Research Center Acvagenresurs, the Environment Protection Inspectorate, and the Nistru Keepers Eco-Tiras NGO.