American courts asked to ban imports of beluga caviar
Conservation groups in Washington, alarmed that the beluga sturgeon is being fished to extinction for its caviar, have begun a court action to force the government to ban imports into the world's biggest market, the United States.
A campaign called Caviar Emptor - Let the Connoisseur Beware - is suing the fish and wildlife service for failing to list the beluga under the Endangered Species Act and so prevent the world's most expensive fish eggs, which are sold wholesale at $1,000 a kilo (about £650), being imported.
The number of beluga in the Caspian Sea has plummeted because of over-exploitation, mostly by illegal fishing, in the past 20 years: particularly since the breakdown of the Soviet Union.
Beluga fishing was banned last autumn by the convention on trade in endangered species (Cites), but was resumed this spring after a population survey conducted by five countries which border the Caspian, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran. Only 28 bel uga were caught in the six-week survey, 24 of which were immature, but the survey concluded that there were 9.3 million beluga in the sea, enough to sustain a harvest of 12,000kg of caviar this year.
Cites accepted the figure for this year but has ordered a much bigger survey and a long-term conservation plan from the five countries by July 20.
Shannon Crownover, of the Washington conservation group SeaWeb, a partner in Caviar Emptor, cast doubt on the findings.
"This is the last outpost for the 250 million-year-old species and in the last 20 years we have virtually wiped it out. In our view we are pushing this species to extinction."
She said that beluga sturgeon needed 15 years to become sufficiently mature to breed, and bred only every three years.
"They just cannot reproduce quick enough to sustain this level of harvest.
"We do not believe that there are 9.3m sturgeon out there and that this can be calculated from catching just 28," she added.
Lisa Speer, from the Natural Resources Defence Council in Washington, which is bringing the court case of behalf of Caviar Emptor, said: "We are literally killing the goose that lays the golden eggs."
The fish and wildlife service said it would reply by the June 25 deadline to the demand to have beluga imports banned.
Scientists employed by Caviar Emptor said there was overwhelming evidence from the past two years that that beluga sturgeon were on the brink of extinction and could not support any level of fishing. They are preparing evidence for Cites.
Jim Armstrong, deputy general secretary of Cites, said he was happy to see their evidence, but was not so far convinced.
He said: "We believe the quotas are sustainable for this year, and we do not believe that international trade should be banned.
"It is not in the interests of those five countries surrounding the Caspian Sea to allow the stocks to be over-exploited, but if they do it is our job to move in and stop the trade, so that ultimately the stocks can recover and be harvestable again."
A campaign called Caviar Emptor - Let the Connoisseur Beware - is suing the fish and wildlife service for failing to list the beluga under the Endangered Species Act and so prevent the world's most expensive fish eggs, which are sold wholesale at $1,000 a kilo (about £650), being imported.
The number of beluga in the Caspian Sea has plummeted because of over-exploitation, mostly by illegal fishing, in the past 20 years: particularly since the breakdown of the Soviet Union.
Beluga fishing was banned last autumn by the convention on trade in endangered species (Cites), but was resumed this spring after a population survey conducted by five countries which border the Caspian, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran. Only 28 bel uga were caught in the six-week survey, 24 of which were immature, but the survey concluded that there were 9.3 million beluga in the sea, enough to sustain a harvest of 12,000kg of caviar this year.
Cites accepted the figure for this year but has ordered a much bigger survey and a long-term conservation plan from the five countries by July 20.
Shannon Crownover, of the Washington conservation group SeaWeb, a partner in Caviar Emptor, cast doubt on the findings.
"This is the last outpost for the 250 million-year-old species and in the last 20 years we have virtually wiped it out. In our view we are pushing this species to extinction."
She said that beluga sturgeon needed 15 years to become sufficiently mature to breed, and bred only every three years.
"They just cannot reproduce quick enough to sustain this level of harvest.
"We do not believe that there are 9.3m sturgeon out there and that this can be calculated from catching just 28," she added.
Lisa Speer, from the Natural Resources Defence Council in Washington, which is bringing the court case of behalf of Caviar Emptor, said: "We are literally killing the goose that lays the golden eggs."
The fish and wildlife service said it would reply by the June 25 deadline to the demand to have beluga imports banned.
Scientists employed by Caviar Emptor said there was overwhelming evidence from the past two years that that beluga sturgeon were on the brink of extinction and could not support any level of fishing. They are preparing evidence for Cites.
Jim Armstrong, deputy general secretary of Cites, said he was happy to see their evidence, but was not so far convinced.
He said: "We believe the quotas are sustainable for this year, and we do not believe that international trade should be banned.
"It is not in the interests of those five countries surrounding the Caspian Sea to allow the stocks to be over-exploited, but if they do it is our job to move in and stop the trade, so that ultimately the stocks can recover and be harvestable again."
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