A total of 81 tons of black caviar will be allowed to enter the international market. 3 tons of the highest prized beluga, 17 tons of sevruga and 61 tons of oscietra. In comparison to 2008, this means only a reduction of 5 tons in total (or 6%).

This decision might generate some shaking heads, as the rapidly declining sturgeon wild stock in the Caspian Sea isn’t exactly ‘in line’ with this decision. Furthermore I’ve to add, that even if these new export quotas (related to the fishing season from March 2010 until February 2011) show a tendency downwards regarding the amount of caviar, it is nothing but a silly move. Natural wild life protection is something else.

I understand, that there has to be a business ($) in order to protect it. Imagining a 10-year export ban? It would lead to a prosperous poaching, exceeding todays reality. But thinking about corruption and short-sighted greedy interests I can’t see nothing good in this. At least not for the highly sought after females. This decisions means in other words: As we are not capable to fight against poaching and corruption significantly, so let’s at least earn some money over the last sturgeons there are and make sure it ends in our pockets.

I share the opinion with Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, saying: “It’s ludicrous to allow any fishing. The quotas should all have been zero for all of these species.”

My guess is, there won’t be enough wild stock to reach the maximum quotas in the first place. My hope is, that consumers got used to high premium farmed caviar and give these wild fossils a break. A long one! But than again: the biggest margins lie in wild caviar. No need to comment…

Hopefully one day CITES changes from a solely regulating authority to a controlling one. Will this come too late?

Further links:

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Official CITES press release

Reuters

Back in April I wrote a post about a mere rumour, that the Caspian Sea border states are planning to ban sturgeon fishing for the duration of ten years. This proposal is to be seen under the fact, that all five border states in 2006 and 2009 failed to agree on export quotas in order to conserve the already fast dwindling sturgeon stocks. This agreement must be based on scientific facts and surveys complying with the policy in protecting remaining stocks. Since over a ear and a half there is an export ban on all black caviar from the Caspian Sea.

(Of course this doesn’t mean one can’t find any wild caviar these days. There is. But the delicacy has to be smuggled or two and a half years old…Either way, no reassuring reasons to spend your money as it could be a label fraud, rotten goods or an unintended act of supporting a crime organization.)

The possible future ban on sturgeon fishing was earlier mentioned to endure ten year, then only five. And now it seems that the bar was raised up to fifteen years. But with the slow maturation rate of the sturgeons in mind (the females take up to fifteen years to reach fertility) this would mean – at best – to maintain the current stocks instead of populating growth.

A fifteen years ban? For some a bold attempt. For most simply not good enough. Triple the years and the sturgeons in the Caspian Sea could maybe have a bright future.

But even if such a ban could come into existence, it would not solve the problem of lack of control and corruption (the Caspian Sea is a very vast place!) and the high risk of pollution that comes with oil drilling. And all three put the sturgeon where he is today: on the edge of the abyss.

For all wild caviar lovers who want to ease mind & palate, head for premium farmed caviar.

Read original article.

In the aftermath of the current disaster taking place in the Gulf of Mexico one might ask what would be the scale of event if something similar happened in the Caspian Sea? The worlds biggest inland body of water and home of aprox. 80% of the worlds sturgeon populations?

The threat in the Caspian due to Oil drilling is nothing new of course. I posted some articles pointing out this issue (click here and here).

The outcome would of course be nothing else then catastrophic. But one doesn’t need to go so far. Even today we know for a fact, that the natural ressources of the Caspian Sea is under heavy bombardment. The combination of poaching, overfishing, lack of control, corruption, oil and gas pullution, wastewater sewers, hidroelectric power plants, etc. lead to a worse then hideous picture. Its pure shame.

The stories about high toxic metals such as arsenic, mercury and copper around the coastline of the Caspian Sea, harming not only the soon to be extinct sturgeons and seals, but even more importantly the health of its coastal human population, speak in a crystal clear manner: The era of wild caviar is over. Full stop.

The future is premium farmed caviar. The future is ZwyerCaviar.

Related articles at:

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

Eurasia Review

Now, after I cheered to that for a while as a gone-mad-greenpeace-disciple, I had to make one step back and reflect about what actually hangs in the air. Let’s be clear, even if the direction might be right, a 10-year fishing ban doesn’t bring these critically endangered sturgeons to their well-deserved bright future. Because of their slow maturation – wild sturgeons lay their eggs at the age of  aprox. 15 years old (depending the species) – some scientist suggest a ban of at least four decades to be effective! And there is just no way, that any fishing and/or customs authority (might it be legal or corrupt) of the bordering states is up and ready to sacrifice some additional pocket-$$$.

As far as I know, only the Japanese know how to follow plans that take 50 long years to play out. And I am talking about ‘A’ and not ‘B’ plans. I just dont see how the Russians (not talking about the rest) could manage such an undertaking.

And even if they would declare such ban, let me put it in the words of sturgeon expert and conservationist Phaedra Doukakis: “The challenge for Russia is the vastness of the Volga River Delta. It won’t just take this moratorium, it will also take a pretty good crackdown on illegal fishing.”

And about that ’10-year ban rumour’ I mentioned, the latest that I picked up in the internet void was, that they reduced it to 5 years. Don’t act surprised…

Read original article.

Learn about the important work of Phaedra Doukakis and Ellen Pikitch. Both of them, sturgeon experts.

Following an extract from a recent press release from the IUCN:

Eighty five percent of sturgeon, one of the oldest families of fishes in existence, valued around the world for their precious roe, are at risk of extinction, making them the most threatened group of animals on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. The latest update of the Red List assessed the status of 18 species of sturgeon from all over Europe and Asia and found that all were threatened.

To read full article

The other day I found a very interesting read about the ‘caviar in crisis’ (meaning the absence of wild caviar on the market) on the Newsweek website that I want to share with you.

Click here to read the story!

I know that there are plenty of posts regarding the ‘bashing’ of wild caviar coming from the Caspian Sea. But as long as there are epicureans buying this kind of ‘black caviar’, the anti-campaign must go on. People must know, that the Caspian Sea is dying. That the sturgeons need all the protection they can get. And that the time for wild caviar is over.

Forbes.com published an article about the worlds dirtiest cities. According to the ranking made by Mercer Human Ressource Consultings back in 2007, Baku figures as the infamous number 1 of all the dirtiest cities on planet Earth. Ok, the ranking has its days. And the Chinese cities are missing on this list. Calcutta and other usual suspects too. But it would still be absolutely unobjectionable to say, that nothing good can come from the waters near Baku, Azerbaijan (Caspian Sea). Actually nowhere in or near the Caspian Sea.

The ranking is based on levels of air pollution, waste management, water potability, hospital services, medical supplies and the presence of infectious disease.

So, one should rethink if buying Caspian Caviar. Especially if  ’made in Baku’…!

An interesting question: will the Iranians be able to step into their own legacy and produce a top premium caviar inside their aquacultures? In my point of view they are starting relatively late with vision. And taking the painful mistakes into account that every farmer has to diggest, well, then it will still be a very long way until we see some iranian farmed caviar on the shelf. And start digging graves for the Almas caviar…

ZwyerCaviar LLC has nothing to fear, as its caviar producer – Esturiones del Rio Negro SA – is to date the one and only sturgeon farm so far, which has access to millions of fresh river water. And in stark contrast to UFT, the water is being used once of course – and never ever re-circulated. Any questions…?

Go to article

The reasons why sturgeons are heading into their extinction are clear and well known. Today it’s a common sense, that due to overfishing and poaching, these fossils became hunted in a perverse way. But even more than these direct hostile actions against the sturgeons, the indirect collateral damages due to the expansion of ‘civilization’ delivers the killing stroke for these 250Mio years old creatures. The cities drainage pipes destroy spawning grounds and the hidroelectric power plants and dams block the sturgeons gateway to evolution (spawning upstream). 

The waste, polluting the Caspian Sea include increasingly many high toxic metals, such as Arsenic (mostly Iranian and Azerbaijan coastal region), Mercury (region near Baku) and Copper (Iranian and Azerbaijan coastal region). See more on the image below.

Anyone who finds interest in getting a closer look into the Caspian Sea, I recommend the website from the Caspian Environment Programm for a deeper understanding.

And anyone who arrived by now in the 3rd millenium – thinking about sustainability and the protection of our natural ressources, without having to sacrifice quality and premium indulgences – checks in at zwyercaviar.com

The iranian government urges the president of the Caspian Sea states to sign the Convention for the Legal Regime of the Caspian Sea, which would settle the territorial rights of each country and most of all alleviate environmental concerns for the world’s largest land-locked body of water.

Some fisherman see themselfs already as the last generation of its kind in the Caspian Region. Because of heavy pollution (sewage, oil drilling, etc.), poaching and over-fishing, the sturgeon population in that region is in free fall since the last years. Some even say, that within the next 10yrs. this ancient caviar production will come to an end. 

Iran is the only mentionable state in that region that undergoes heavy efforts in order to re-stock this endangered species without a hidden agenda (as for example Russia and Kazakhstan do with their caviar mafia and corrupt system). 

Lets hope that Teheran finds a way to convince them all and to round up the table! 

Original article on allheadlinenews.com