WWF SAYS CAVIAR MARKET THREATENED WITH COLLAPSE
WebPosted Wed Dec  6 15:51:37 2000

GENEVA--The World Wide Fund for Nature says poaching and illegal trade 
in sturgeon could result in the end of the international caviar market. 
They say several species of sturgeon, the source of caviar, may be 
commercially extinct within a couple of years. 

 The Swiss-based conservation group is calling for countries around the 
Caspian Sea - mainly Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia - to clamp down on 
overfishing in the basin. Sixty per cent of the world's caviar supply 
comes from this region, and the WWF says sturgeon catches have fallen 
from 20,000 tonnes annually in the late 1970s, to 550 tonnes this year. 

 The WWF calls the situation dire, saying unless changes are implemented, 
caviar will be a thing of the past. Russian police and border guards 
have found more than 70 tonnes of sturgeon entangled in illegal nets 
this year. That's estimated to be only a small fraction of the illegal 
catch, according to WWF. 

 The group has also requested detailed reports from caviar-producing 
countries, explaining their restocking and other control measures for 
the large freshwater fish. Scientists from the UN Convention on 
International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, will review the annual 
export quotas of caviar-producing countries at a meeting in the U.S. 
this week and next. 

 The WWF suggested a ban could be placed on the fish if things don't 
change in the next six months. But they stopped short of calling for an 
official ban now, saying it would wait to see what comes of the CITES 
meeting. 

 Ban may not be effective 

 The WWF also worries that a ban wouldn't curb illegal activity. It 
accuses the Russian mafia of being heavily involved in the sturgeon 
poaching, and says much of the illegally caught fish is going to Moscow. 

 The WWF says this domestic market is large enough, with an estimated 10 
tonnes of sturgeon reaching Moscow daily in 1996 and 1997, to encourage 
poachers should an international export ban be put in place. 

 Caviar retails from $880 to $5,000 US for one kilogram. It consists of 
the unfertilized eggs of the female sturgeon. According to WWF figures, 
the 15 member states of the EU were the largest importers at 263 tons of 
the delicacy. The U.S. was next at 99 tons, followed by Japan with 35 
tons. 

 The World Conservation Union, IUCN, has classified all but two species 
of sturgeon as threatened. Six are critically endangered, eight are 
endangered, six are vulnerable, and one is lower risk (near threatened). 

 WWF wants the caviar trade to fund conservation efforts, with 
governments tackling corruption and illegal sturgeon catches. 

 
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