Abstract
This chapter explores the informal practices of residents of the Romanian Danube Delta, particularly those connected to the most important local activity, fishing. We show that locals come under the scrutiny of a labyrinth of regulations, designed such that nobody can abide by all of them simultaneously. We argue that this regulatory complexity is the way through which the state controls marginal territories. Dissent is minimized by the possibility of always having one foot in illegality. This adds a new dimension to the scholarship on informality in Romania, bringing the Danube Delta into the debate on the proper relationship between legality, criminality, and informality.
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Notes
- 1.
This research was carried out as part of a larger project, funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), on the political and cultural implications of rewilding projects in the Danube Delta. It gathered data through participatory observation and unstructured in-depth interviews which took place over the course of three years and focused on different aspects of the residents’ strategies in the Danube Delta. These interviews targeted, among others, authorities, law enforcement agents, fishermen, residents, and NGO workers. Unless otherwise specified, the information on the Danube Delta provided in this article is drawn from this research.
- 2.
These have been defined as following: “‘primary criminalization’ […] is pronounced by an investigating body, and ‘secondary criminalization’ […] occurs when a matter is effectively submitted by a due process of law” (Bayart et al. 1999, 13).
- 3.
It is worth underlining that this was not the case until 1989, when the Socialist government invested considerably in the integration of the Danube Delta and of its economy into the larger Romanian sphere by providing infrastructure and services.
- 4.
Sturgeon fishing has been subject to a moratorium since 2006.
- 5.
Both agencies have an enforcement branch. For ANPA this is the Directia Politici si Inspectii Maritime (DPIM), and for ARBDD it is the Comisariatul de Control Integrat, a branch that reunites seven previously active branches of the ARBDD, each with enforcement and control capacities. This, according to a press release by ARBDD. On the ARBDD website portion dedicated to the new enforcement agency there is no information at all.
- 6.
During the communist regimes, barges used to regularly visit villages and gather their cattle for slaughter, paying cash. The slaughterhouse in Tulcea has since closed.
- 7.
The use of the masculine pronoun reflects the local reality: only men fish.
- 8.
For example, if one is old and only knows how to fish with tools by now forbidden.
- 9.
It is highly unrealistic to think that one trip could acquire all the necessary permits. In practice, people either make the trip several times, or have to stay overnight in Tulcea, relying on informal networks or paying for a hotel room in the absence of such networks.
- 10.
For the villagers of Sfântu Gheorghe, the sea is a natural place to fish in, given its proximity to the village, which is located literally at the mouth of the Sfântu Gheorghe branch of the Danube.
- 11.
This species of migratory fish (it lives in salt water in the Black Sea but reproduces in the fresh water of the Danube) has become increasingly important for the local economy since the moratorium on sturgeon came into place. It is considered a high-value species and fishermen during the migration season of the shad will fish round the clock.
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Prelz Oltramonti, G., Tanasescu, M. (2019). The Criminalization of Informal Practices in the Danube Delta: How and Why. In: Polese, A., Russo, A., Strazzari, F. (eds) Governance Beyond the Law. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05039-9_3
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