U.N. LIFTS BELUGA CAVIAR SALES BAN

[Anonymous]

UN lifts beluga caviar sales ban
The
Beluga sturgeon can take up to 20 years to reach maturity.The United
Nations has lifted a ban on beluga caviar exports after Caspian Sea
states agreed to limit catches of the fish from which it is
taken.Beluga caviar is the most expensive variety of the delicacy and
can cost thousands of dollars a kilo.Almost all trade in caviar was
banned last year because the sturgeon is fast disappearing from the
Caspian, the source of about 90% of world caviar.Environmentalists have
attacked the UN decision, calling it irresponsible.Experts estimate the
Caspian’s caviar stocks have fallen by more than 90% since the late
1970s because of overfishing – both legal and illegal.

‘Brink of extinction’
UN-sponsored
conservation body Cites has granted Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran,
Russia and Turkmenistan permission to export 3.761 tonnes of beluga
caviar in 2007.Ellen Pikitch, co-founder of Caviar Emptor, a group
campaigning to protect Caspian Sea sturgeon, criticised the decision,
saying the beluga sturgeon was on the brink of extinction.”This is
irresponsible behaviour by international trade officials,” she
said.Last month, Cites gave the same five countries the go-ahead to
sell 96 tonnes of other varieties of caviar – 15% below the level set
in 2005.Monday’s announcement also allows China and Russia to export
about 3.2 tonnes of Amur sturgeon roe and 4.2 tonnes of Kaluga sturgeon
roe. 

[Author]

February 16, 2007 at 12:13 PM