U.N. environment body eyes caviar export quotas

The number of Caspian Sea sturgeon has plummeted in recent decades due to pollution and overfishing

December 13, 2000
Web posted at: 11:17 AM EST (1617 GMT)

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SHEPHERDSTOWN, West Virginia -- An International body that governs trade in endangered species deliberated over the future of the world caviar market on Tuesday, amid widespread concern about dwindling sturgeon populations in the Caspian Sea region.

A scientific advisory committee of CITES, a U.N. treaty between 152 nations that protects 30,000 plant and animal species, was expected to recommend export restrictions and possibly export bans for leading caviar-producing nations including Russia and Iran.

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At issue is the survival of sturgeon species such as Caspian Beluga, whose unfertilized eggs represent the most sought after variety of caviar, but whose numbers have plunged by 90 percent in recent decades due to pollution, over-fishing, poaching and smuggling.

If export restrictions fail to take hold, nations belonging to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, could opt for an import ban as early as next June.

Caviar has long been an icon of wealth, along with sports cars, yachts and fine champagnes. But the international caviar market, worth up to the $1 billion by some estimates, has been swept by inflation as sturgeon catches have shrunk, driving caviar prices to as high as $90 an ounce.

The delicacy, obtained by killing female sturgeon and harvesting unfertilized eggs, is just now heading into its annual Christmas and New Year's sales bonanza.

Environmental experts blame the current crisis on political and economic disarray in the former states of the Soviet Union, whose regulations have lapsed into disuse.

"The main reason for the problem is the breakup of the former Soviet Union," said Craig Hoover, a senior program officer with TRAFFIC, a conservation group that has been monitoring sturgeon for CITES.

"Due to illegal fishing, large-scale illegal trade and other factors, we've reached the point where sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea are in critical need of conservation action."

A special working group of government scientists was expected to propose export restrictions to stem the decline of Caspian sturgeon by Friday, when the CITES science committee wraps up five days of meetings in West Virginia.

Meanwhile Iran, which environmentalists described as a shining star of sturgeon management in the Caspian, warned that export restrictions could wind up hurting conservation efforts by penalizing restocking programs that rely on export proceeds.

"We've pay $8 million a year (into restocking) hoping that in the next 10 to 20 years we can get the caviar," said Muhammad Pourkazemi, director of Iran's sturgeon research institute.

Seven countries -- Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, China, Iran and Romania -- have already opted for voluntary export quotas totaling 239 tons this year.

"The situation with illegal trade is improving," said Russian representative Sergei Nikonorov, whose government hopes to avoid further restrictions. "We now have eliminated maybe 95 percent of illegal trade from the international market."

An industry executive attending the CITES meeting said he believed export restrictions could affect two-thirds of this year's caviar market.

"It would be a disaster for the local countries," said Mats Engstrom, president of San Francisco-based Tsar Nicoulai Caviar Inc., who would hope to run restocking programs for Caspian region countries.

Certain forms of sturgeon, a species which has been swimming the Earth's rivers since the days of the dinosaur, have long been seen as vulnerable. Export recommendations could affect a number of nations where sturgeon range, from China to Hungary, and possibly the United States.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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