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The Caspian sea range states — Russia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan — will be able to resume their caviar exports in 2007. The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) issued export quotas for three sturgeon species on 2 January, thus ending a ban it imposed a year ago following the failure of the Caspian range states to meet requirements concerning the sustainability of the catch (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 20 January 2006, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/06-01-20/inbrief.htm#2). The five states have reached an agreement among themselves to cut the catch by 20 percent compared to levels in 2005.
The ban remains in force, however, on caviar from one Caspian sturgeon species, the beluga sturgeon. This caviar is the most expensive in the world, and the issue will be revisited at the end of the month pending further documentation from Russia. Due to sharply decreasing sturgeon populations in the Black Sea/Lower Danube, the range states in this region have not requested export quotas, but are seeking to let the species recover under fishing bans.
Local groups have questioned the sustainability of resuming Caspian caviar exports. “The allocation of quotas will be considered by our side as the approval of the caviar sale, and it means that illegal fishing and selling will occur,” said Mels Eleusizov, head of the Kazakh ecological group Tabigat. “A one year of ban for caviar export is not enough to restore the stock,” added Kazakhstan-based analyst Eduard Poletaev. They also pointed to problems related to oil extraction as a main reason for the sturgeon decline. Up to 90 percent of caviar is sourced from the Caspian.
The CITES argument is that increased revenues from caviar will increase the sustainability in the industry by providing incentives for creating the conditions necessary to ensure the long-term recovery of the valuable species. CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers stressed, however, that “ensuring that sturgeon stocks recover to safe levels will take decades of careful fisheries management and an unrelenting struggle against poaching and illegal trade.”
In 1998, the 169 CITES member states decided to place all sturgeon species on Appendix II of the Convention, which includes species that Parties have agreed to subject to trade controls in order to ensure their survival. While wild sturgeon populations continue to decline, caviar from farmed varieties is on the increase.
“U.N. Lifts Ban on Caviar Exports from the Caspian,” REUTERS, 3 January 2007; “Caspian Caviar Export Quotas Set, but Beluga in Limbo,” ENS, 2January 2007, “Following 2006 ban, CITES authorizes 2007 quotas for all Caspian Sea caviar except beluga,” CITES PRESS RELEASE, 2 January 2007; “Caspian Caviar Quotas Called Ineffective,” ENS, 11 January 2007.
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