Guardian of the Fish With the Golden Eggs

 

“Dr. Doukakis is on a mission to protect the sturgeon. 

Her informal manner echoes the way she talks about these fish. She refers to them affectionately as “these guys” and laments the fact that they “got whacked” by overfishing. But the informality cloaks a depth of knowledge.

Dr. Doukakis, who alternates between an apartment in Hamilton Heights and a house in Ulster County, has been associated with the museum since 1996. It may be fitting that she is doing this work in the heart of the city that is perhaps the nation’s leading consumer of caviar, buying several tons a year.

The fish that is the focus of her professional endeavors has a special status in the conservation world. Sturgeon, about 25 species of fish from one family, first appeared in the fossil record 200 million years ago and are generally huge: In some species, a sturgeon can live past 100 and grow to 2,000 pounds. To spawn, they swim upstream from seas into rivers; their favorite is the 1,500-mile Ural River, which runs from the Ural Mountains in Russia through Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea.

The lure of illegal caviar drives the black market: At $5,000 to $10,000 per kilo of beluga caviar, one beluga sturgeon could be worth $50,000.

In 2007, several Kazakh scientists came to New York and met with Dr. Doukakis and other American biologists in an effort to try to save their sturgeon from the sorry fate the fish met in New York. Two species found in the Hudson River, the Atlantic sturgeon and the short-nosed sturgeon, were once plentiful, perhaps because their meat was unpopular.

By the 1850s, fishermen were hawking sturgeon meat under the name Albany beef. Enterprising merchants shipped American caviar off to an expanding European market, while New York bartenders offered free caviar sandwiches, hoping that the salty taste would prompt people to drink more alcohol. By 1900, the populations of both species crashed. Still, the demand continued.

Flash forward a century. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Doukakis, working with Rob DeSalle, a curator at the museum, and Vadim Birstein, a Russian biologist, developed a method of identifying caviar by its DNA sequence. They also designed a market study that involved buying tins of caviar locally and analyzing the DNA to see if the species inside matched the label.

They found that a quarter of the caviar sold in New York was mislabeled, with the eggs of endangered species for sale in Manhattan, often unbeknown to both buyer and seller. The study, published in 1998, contributed to the imposition of trade restrictions by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The sale of caviar from the wild beluga sturgeon, which is among the endangered species, is banned in the United States. But because beluga caviar can still be found in stores and online, a decade later, Dr. Doukakis and her colleagues are on the hunt again.

At the museum’s lab, officially known as the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, Dr. Doukakis is working with Anna Rothschild, a research technician, to replicate the original study, with funding from the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook, Dr. Doukakis’s employer. The goal is to determine whether international conservation efforts have reduced the amount of endangered species’ caviar sold in New York and online.

For the past year, they have been visiting high-end food shops, posing as party planners.

“If anybody asked, we had our story down,” Ms. Rothschild said.

Because Dr. Doukakis is widely known in the caviar world, she uses colleagues’ credit cards to buy caviar online. In one of the lab’s ultracold freezers sat a box bearing the business address of Ms. Rothschild’s father, who works in the music industry.

After washing the eggs from the caviar samples, Ms. Rothschild breaks them down to DNA strands, which are then read by a laser that identifies the DNA sequence. Using a computer program, she compares the sequence of a new sample with samples in a database.

Neither woman much likes caviar, but because fraudulent caviar is often poorly processed or spoiled, tasting is part of the job, and not always a pleasant part.

“You’ve had the paddlefish caviar, right?” Dr. Doukakis asked her technician one day recently as the two women inspected vials of frozen caviar in the lab. “It just tastes like mud.”

Their report will appear toward the end of the year. While Dr. Doukakis predicts that it will show that New Yorkers are buying less illegal caviar than in the past, over all, the picture for sturgeon grows bleaker, largely because the international black market persists. “These fish continue to be pummeled,” Dr. Doukakis said.

In the course of her research, she has visited four of the fishing nations on the Caspian Sea — Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan — and spent three fishing seasons on the Ural River.

But her work in the city presses on. The other day, Dr. Doukakis sat in the lab at a blond-wood table examining photographs of fishing expeditions on the river. Across Central Park, sunset bronzed the buildings of the East Side.

The work can be difficult, she acknowledged. “But,” she added, “I’m pretty convinced I’ll end up working on sturgeon for the rest of my life.”

 

Article taken from nytimes.com

Paddlefish Eggs Sold as Caviar Funding Research

 

On the 27th of March I posted an article about the convicted Thomas Jerry Nix, Jr. for participating in a conspiracy to engage in illegal commercial fishing for American paddlefish and to illegally take paddlefish roe and process them into caviar. (Go to article: http://www.caviarist.com/?p=795)

 

Article:

“Now, on Newson6 I found this article about a governmental research project, financed through the commercialisation of paddlefish roe. If a citizen tries to make a living with the natural ressources, its a crime. But if the government steps in, than its suddenly legal. So it seems…

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is working with fishermen to study one of Oklahoma’s largest, and strangest, fish.

Paddlefish cruise the bottoms of Oklahoma lakes feeding on plankton.

They’re being harvested for their eggs, or roe, which is selling on the international caviar market for 100 dollars a pound.

“It’s very expensive to manage these populations,” said Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation Northeast Region Fisheries Biologist Brent Gordon.  “This way our fishermen are bringing in product, it kind of invests them as part of the data collection.  They bring it to us, we fillet that out very nice, return it to them and if it has any eggs in it we collect those out and sell them on the open market.”

The money collected from the sale of the caviar is used to fund the ongoing research operation.

Watch the video to see Dick Faurot catch two Paddlefish when Wildlife officers took us out ‘snagging’ this week.”

Found on: Newson6.com

1 year and 1 day for illegal caviar smuggling

 

Thomas Jerry Nix, Jr., 39, of Memphis, Tenn., formerly of Shell Knob, was sentenced on Feb. 2 in federal court in Springfield. The court also ordered Nix to pay $30,002 in restitution to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

 

In September of 2008, Nix pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to engage in illegal commercial fishing for American paddlefish on Table Rock Lake and to illegally take paddlefish eggs, called roe, and process them into caviar. 

According to court reports, Nix set three gill nets on Table Rock Lake and used a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to mark the location of the nets. Every one to three days thereafter, Nix and his co-conspirator returned to check the gill nets for paddlefish.

 

When paddlefish were retrieved from the gill nets, Nix slit open each paddlefish suspected to contain eggs and extracted them from the paddlefish by hand. They sealed the eggs in plastic bags and transported them to Nix’s residence in Shell Knob. As the paddlefish moved upstream, Nix relocated the gill nets. In attempt to conceal their scheme, Nix and his accomplice sank the carcasses of the paddlefish they killed by weighting them with rocks.

 

Periodically, Nix and his co-conspirator transported the processed paddlefish caviar from Shell Knob to three separate locations in Tennessee, where it was sold to a company engaged in the business of buying, processing and selling caviar. Between Jan. 11 and Feb. 11, 2008, Nix sold approximately 387 pounds of paddlefish caviar to the firm for a total of $35,820.

 

Upon a search of Nix’s residence in Shell Knob, officers discovered over 90 pounds of additional paddlefish roe that was labeled and ready to be sold. On Feb. 18, 2008, Nix led agents to three gill nets in Table Rock Lake. Upon their retrieval, agents were able to release 17 live paddlefish caught in the nets.

 

Paddlefish roe is subject to USDA regulations, and improperly processed paddlefish roe is subject to contamination by botulinum brucella and listeria monocyteogenes.

Caviar dealer in jail – BEMKA

 

 

Max Moghaddam, the owner of the Bemka Corporation (‘House of Caviar & Fine Foods’) operating its business in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and in Brussels, Belgium, got finally sentenced to 18 months for caviar smuggling.

Mr.Moghaddam mislabeled and exported 240kg. of roe from the American paddlefish (endangered species) as bowfin roe (aka ‘whitefish’ and not endangered) to Belgium back in 2007 and got sentenced after a 4-day trial in last december.

According to the condemned criminal it was a ‘mistake’ of the shipping department, because he has ordered some 14’000 pounds of paddlefish roe earlier in the same month.

The homepage of Bemka Corporation promises a service and products to its clients with ‘distinction and perfection’. Well, that’s no longer the case…

Of course, mistakes can happen. But not seeing it during the hole process of repackaging 240kg. of caviar? I very much doubt that. The super premium brand ZwyerCaviar is committed every and each day to show its clients that trust is not a nice-to-have, but the very most valued gift when it comes to caviar!

For more articles:

- Gourmet News: Caviar dealer’s trial date set in smuggling case

- Luxist: Illegal Caviar Exporter Could Face $500,000 Fine

- Gourmet News: Caviar dealer sentenced to 18 months in smuggling case

Corporate websites:

- Caviarlover.com (US & Belgium)

- House of Caviar & Fine Food (Netherlands)

The 5 year ban and a glimpse at the future of Caspian caviar

 

It is generally known that during the months of April until June 2008 the Caspian Sea states reacted on the growing pressure of international watchdogs and authorities to ban fishing of wild sturgeons in the region. Now, after the latest CITES ban (thanks to Caviar Emptor!) in 2006 all states but Iran agreed verbally to implement a 5 year ban starting in 2009. (I really hope that this verbal agreement was done with spit and a hand shake – at least)

 

This leads to the conclusion that within the next years it will be tricky to find premium quality of wild caviar coming from the Caspian Sea. Exported Caspian caviar should therefor vanish some months after the latest possible catch season – this very autumn. Meaning that after April 2009 (after the usually 6 month shelf life expired) should be no legally traded caviar around which originates from Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan. Only Iranian caviar should be visible on the connoisseurs radar. It is already a fact that prices for illegal wild caviar will go sky high! Once again.

But as the Caspian Sea states are known not only for their amazing natural ressources and landscapes it is very possible that some misguided ‘authorities’ will try to benefit from this ‘rocket science’ and sell some false labeled caviar through the usual dark channels of the underworld. The profits would be just too yummy.

So, there’s the choice we have: For the optimists on one hand it can be considered as a “real step into the right direction”, as Julia Roberson of the sturgeon advocacy group Caviar Emptor puts it. For the pesimists on the other hand this step could lead right into the pockets of greedy hipocriticals. As a swiss it is not up to me to judge but to stay neutral – and to observe. Maybe just this much: I hope for the first and fear the latter.

 

But even if this ban comes with the right motivation and goal (= to prevent the fish from extinction) it does not do real good. The time span is just to short. Sturgeons need about 12-15 years until they spawn.  In addition the females only lay their eggs every 2-4 years. And this means that in 2014 – when the ban will be lifted – there will be achieved virtually nothing. That is why some scientists suggest a much longer ban. It would take a ban lasting for four decades to be effective.

 

Why waiting, if the true alternative is already here?

 

Related article:

Telegraph

THE HUNTING PARTY – Cracking down on illegal caviar trade

Police Departments start creating their own special units to fight against organised crime syndicates who profit from illegal caviar trade.

 

USA

An interesting story is wrapped around the paddlefish in the US. A fish which is actually not a sturgeon but a close relative. The Oklahoma police observed that russian poachers living in New York and New Jersey are taking advantage of the fact that the US is tightening import permits on sturgeon eggs and did even impose a ban on beluga caviar back in 2006. This made the native paddlefish a new target for the illegal caviar traders. Or as Larry Manering, the law enforcment chief of the Wildlife Department in Oklahoma, puts it: “This is a multibillion- dollar business, and we’ve got the fish and they know it!”

So, if his unit has a poacher in their net, the poacher will face a fine of 1’000USD first. On the second run it will get costier (25’000USD) and the delinquent goes behind bars for at least 1 year.

To read original article.

 

UK

Another hunting party against illegal caviar traders is in the UK. The Brits placed their best man for this job, so it seems. Meet Inspector Nevin Hunter. Mr. Hunter and his 20-strong unit have the licence to seize caviar of any restaurant and gourmet store which do not have suficient trading documents. Chefs and alike should start to think about their own unoficial caviar canals, if they dont want to face prosecution and heavy fines.

 

This unit was set up as part of international moves to fight against illegal caviar trade. And it shows more and more that responsible authorities are putting more thoughts into this matter and get more seriously. Sturgeon poaching and trading with (or just buying!) illegal caviar is not considered a small crime anymore, but an iresponsible act that needs to and will be punished severly.

 

May the hunt begin!

 

Read original article.

Read an article about restaurants being already swooped by the caviar squad in London.

A visit at the Egyptian Spice Bazaar in Istanbul

Read this adventurous report from Marketman when he aquired beluga caviar at the Egyptian Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. The selling price was a joke. The writer is definitely not.

My guess is, that the salesman Ibrahim changed his location at the Bazaar already. And with him vanished all the best priced beluga caviar!

Read the article

ROE TO RUIN

Yesterday it was about the Caviar Mafia in Kazakhstan. Today we remain in this profitable underworld which is protected by officials.

An Al Jazeera report about the Kazakhstan authorities ‘battling’ against the caviar mafia (or is it dancing?).

Sturgeon poaching and smuggling brings the sturgeons in the Caspian Sea to their end – within the next 10 years! Note that 90% of the worlds sturgeon population is in the Caspian Sea. Wild caviar is, as Caviar Emptor puts it, a ‘roe to ruin’. And not only for the Beluga, but for most of the sturgeon species!

 

Youtube video

Caviar Mafia – Kazakhstan

It sounds suspenseful. But is plain dumb.

This video found on Youtube talks about the Caviar Mafia and its connections deep into the corrupt system of Kazakhstan authorities. It raises questions and doubts about how well CITES is regulating international caviar trade and why it seems so easy to get ‘green lights’ for trading with illegal documentation.

Don’t miss this, when poachers and ‘authorities’ are giving a show to the TV team! A big shame, proofing that your safer bet is on super-premium farmed caviar.

 

Caviar Mafia – Kazakhstan

We urge consumers to protest with their wallets by not purchasing any wild-caught caviar!

These are the words of Dr. Ellen Pikitch, a Marine Biologist and the Executive Director of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science. She is considered to be one of the main authorities regarding the protection of sturgeon species. Her call derives from a certain frustration against poor custom controls from the respective authorities, bodering the Caspian Sea. Myself, I am haunted by the question: Why does CITES itself - the one and only true worldwide authority there is to regulate international caviar trade (and therefor being the main supporter of the future of the acipenserformes) – still give out such high export quotas, knowing that the respective countries and their parties are not to be trusted in their effort of repopulation/protection???

We know that, because “the news of Russia’s willingness to export additional sturgeon for Turkmenistan, on top of having its own export quota, is especially troubling in the face of Russia’s March proposal that Caspian Sea states impose a five-year ban on sturgeon fishing so that the populations can rebound.” Click here to read the original article

 

In addition, the dark channels of illegal caviar trade tend to ‘cover’ their product with a ‘farmed caviar’ labeling, giving the sturgeon breeders in the long run possibly some bad PR. Unfortunately the responsible authorities lack of a tool in order to distinguish between wild and farmed caviar. So, if somebody has an idea of how to get this tricky dilemma done: let me know!

 

It remains to say, that I totally agree with the Pew Institute, who says that the new trade quotas are just what they are:

U N A C C E P T A B L E.  

BTW: the total export quotas for 2008 for wild caviar originating in the Caspian Sea are 91,387kilotons.

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