Russian authorities seize illegal caviar
February 4, 2010
“Russian police have seized 1.4 tons of sturgeon and 9 kg of caviar in two separate incidents, police said on Friday.
“The fish were discovered on Thursday in a Mitsubishi Canter truck” a police spokesman in the Far East city of Khabarovsk said.
Poachers target the fish, protected under Russian law, for its sought-after black caviar.
In another incident on Thursday, Russian South Ural police seized 9 kilograms of caviar in the restaurant carriage of a Moscow-Tashkent train.
Police said that Uzbek nationals were attempting to export the caviar from Russia illegally.
In Russia, one kilogram of the black sturgeon caviar costs around 35,000 rubles ($1,152).”
Original article: RIA Novosti
The confusion behind ‘Oscietra’
January 13, 2010
This post is more of an invitation to comment, than pure informational.
It is about the confusion behind the expression oscietra and its labelling, recently mentioned in a New York Times article. Historically ‘oscietra’ refers to one of the 3 caviar categories (the others are beluga and sevruga) and is made from the roe of the Russian and Persian sturgeon (altough some caviar players include the roe of the Amur and Fringe Barble sturgeon to the oscietra family). The Russian sturgeon’s latin name is Acipenser gueldenstaedtii and the Persian sturgeon’s name is Acipenser persicus. But in the last few years, many others are using the term ‘oscietra’ for caviar made out of the Siberian sturgeon (latin: Acipenser baerii), which could be conceived as a very close cousin to both sturgeon species mentioned above.
The word ‘oscietra’ (or oscietre, osscietre, osetra, asetra, osiotr, etc.) is Russian and its literal meaning is ‘sturgeon’. And therefore, as Mark Zaslavsky, the president of Marky’s, puts it: “All sturgeon is osetra. It’s a commercial term.”
But nevertheless there are many producers and distributors alike who dont label caviar made of the Siberian sturgeon under the ‘oscietra’-flag. And some of them even promote their own brand creation for caviar made out of the Siberian sturgeon.
- Petrossian
- Sturia (formerly know as ‘Caviar d’ Aquitaine’)
- Kings Fine Food
- Galilee Caviar
- Holsten (using the brand ‘Baerioska’ made out of the siberian sturgeon)
- Prunier (uses its own brand names for the siberian sturgeon roe, such as Tradition, Héritage, Saint James & Paris)
- Marky’s
- Kaspia
- Rossinicaviar (offering besides ‘Baerii caviar’ and the classic oscietra the so called GUBA, a hybrid between the russian and the siberian sturgeon)
Now, as if the confusion wouldnt be perfect by now, I would like to mention the vast habitat of the Siberian sturgeon. Some of their population goes into the Volga region and even into the Caspian Sea. According to a study it is a fact to state, that the Siberian sturgeon (A. baerii) even transmigrates into new regions where a genetic contamination occurs with the classic oscietra sturgeon, the Russian sturgeon, during their reproduction. It is already known that DNA analysis during caviar trading controls makes it virtually impossible today to differentiate between the two sturgeon species.
A recent comment I got from a Swiss authority (CITES) says that such trade names as ‘oscietra’ give an inaccurate view of the species and thus are not part of the necessary regulated information. What is important is the correct labeling, mentioning the latin name of the respective sturgeon species. Furthermore he adds to say, that to distinguish both species through DNA analisis is mostly very hard and in some cases even imposible.
So, on one hand we have a very classic and old expression – a commercial term – to categorize caviar and on the other hand we see new market behavior and the fact of genetic contamination and almost identical DNA codes.
Therefor I would like to raise the following question:
Is there really a basic legitimacy to differentiate the Russian from the Siberian Sturgeon on a commercial dimension?
Please feel free to comment.
Some links to follow-up:
- “Evidence of mitochondrial DNA clones of Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii, within Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, caught in the River Volga”:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120831092/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
- “Testing taxonomic boundaries and the limit of DNA barcoding in the Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii”:
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/19401730903168182
- The New York Times: “The Challenge of Knowing What’s Really in the Osetra Tin”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16caviar.html?emc=eta1
Chile goes caviar?
December 2, 2009
The event is a milestone in perseverance and a great merit for aquaculture researcher from the University of Los Lagos, Dr. Juan Carlos Uribe who has been working for years in the project with resources from Chile’s Development and Promotion Office.
The research and tests begun in 1996 with the purpose of developing an industrial technology to enable the industrial production of sturgeon and the much coveted caviar which is extracted from the fish’s eggs.
“After fifteen years of investigation we had these specimens here and finally they managed to reproduce”, said Uribe from Parral where the experimental farms are located.
“That was the missing step. The project is most interesting for Chile given the price of caviar, and of sturgeon fillets, and even more interesting since it’s a species in extinction process”.
Sturgeon is a considered a living fossil: they have survived since the time of the Dinosaurs having conserved their prehistoric aspect. Fossilized remains have been found in rocks dating back 54 and 40 million years, according to Dr. Uribe
Chilean researchers believe that sturgeon could repeat the “king salmon” experience for Chile. “Now we can move into the commercial stage” said Uribe (…)
Read full story here
ZwyerCaviar: excellence in brand packaging design
October 29, 2009
Developing the Black Pearl was a very challenging project and it took us over a year to accomplish. Therefore it is logical that we feel very proud in receiving such a great response from the press, customers, partners and jurys. Even more so when its from the Pentawards, one of the worlds most prestigious packaging awards.
Click here to see the official honoring document.
Rest assured: After winning 2 international awards, count us in for some more competition!
Look-alike sturgeon may get protection
October 15, 2009
(Excerpt) “Good news for shovelnose sturgeon may be bad news for this region’s commercial fishermen, who sell them to make caviar.The shovelnose are not endangered, but their relatives, the pallid sturgeon, are. Because a young pallid can be mistaken for a shovelnose, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed declaring the shovelnose a threatened species in areas where the two types overlap, giving it regulatory authority.”
Click here to read full article!
Sturgeon poaching in the Columbia River
September 17, 2009
KPLU’s Austin Jenkins recently went on patrol with Washington Fish and Wildlife Police looking for illegal sturgeon catches.
Read the article on KPLU
Vancouver Island – the center for sturgeon aquaculture
September 3, 2009
“Vancouver Island University is preparing to host two prestigious international events: the World Sturgeon Conservation Society‘s North American conference in 2011, and the 7th International Sturgeon Symposium in 2013.”
Click here to continue reading this article.
This year the ISS will be held from the 25th to the 30th of October in Wuhan, the Chinese Hubei Province.
California bans all sturgeon fishing in Sacramento River
September 1, 2009
It concerns about 80miles of the Sacramento River.
And it should make this region a safe haven mostly for the green sturgeon population.
Read the original article at the Sacramento Bee…
Norway and Romania help Beluga
July 3, 2009
Romania banned commercial sturgeon fishing in the Danube River basin some time back. Now, both nations are heading even further and started to finance a project in the Danube River which aims at multiple dimensions.
One of the main goals for this project is trying to understand the trails and routes of the Beluga (Huso Huso). Because of the fact, that the river was heavily dredged in order to clear space for the big cargo vessels and on the shores were built many hydroelectric power plants, the sturgeon populations lost half of their spawning grounds. So, obviously one wonders how they behave and maybe even adapt to the more difficult living conditions. Besides their remaining spawning grounds, especially the question of how they migrate to and from the Black Sea is of big interest.
Furthermore the scientists behind Carolyn Knight and Trond Rosten aim to analyse the regional socialeconomical impact regarding the fishing ban of sturgeons. Fishermen and local societies are under stress aswell. One might forget that easely when trying to safe sturgeons from extinction…
And last but not least, the project looks for ways to build a sustainable tourism based on informing the public about the living conditions of sturgeons, and their right to live. One way of doing so could be an aquaculture farm. Fishfarming is the best alternative their is for not overfishing the seas and rivers of this planet we call earth.
Caviar production side financing research costs
May 21, 2009
This is a good example of getting independency. If you are running a marine laboratory and its costly research costs are giving you a headache, then why not breeding sturgeons by yourself and selling their high-valued roe on the market in order to support the institutional costs?
And that’s what Mote, a marine laboratory based in Florida, is doing since 1997. Breeding sturgeon. And since 2006 selling caviar from the russian and siberian sturgeon. This seems to be a helping hand for this independently run and nonprofit lab. It is active in the field of aquacultural research and has an education programm and even an aquarium to offer.
Great job!
For further infos, see:
- this video on youtube, and
- their official website
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