22 April 2004 03:22
Beluga Called Endangered Species
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has placed the beluga sturgeon, the world's most
valuable fish, on its list of endangered species.
The decision is a blow to Russia's efforts to convince skeptical Western scientists that beluga stocks have been
rebounding after two decades of overfishing. Though so few beluga are caught in the Volga that commercial fishing was
officially ended in 1999, Russia is able to export about a ton of beluga caviar per year under a so-called scientific
catch quota, according to official figures. Kazakhstan, the biggest producer, exports five times that much.
The Fish and Wildlife Service's assistant director for international affairs, Ken Stansell, said that the
decision Tuesday to list the beluga as an endangered species paves the way for possible restrictions on its import to
the United States, the world's largest importer of the delicacy.
He said that in the coming weeks, the agency will propose a set of rules to govern these imports, but he declined to
detail them. These rules, which will take effect in six months, range from imposing no restrictions to completely
banning beluga imports, but will probably fall "somewhere in between," he said by telephone from
Washington.
The U.S. agency was acting on a petition by a coalition of conservation groups called Caviar Emptor.
Its lead scientist, Ellen Pikitch of the University of Miami, said Tuesday, "The listing is a good sign, but we
need to ban imports until the species has a chance to recover. And for that, you need a real clampdown on illegal
fishing."
Scientists agree that 90 percent or more of the beluga have been fished out in the past 15 years.
Despite the release of 600 million baby beluga in the Volga since 1960, the species has almost vanished from the
river.
Its last major spawning ground is Kazakhstan's Ural River.
Along the banks of the Ural, fishermen, market sellers and local journalists say there are fewer beluga each
year.
They say poachers pay off the authorities to massively exceed the legal fishing quotas and sell the excess caviar on
the black market.
But Russian and Kazakh government officials claim the species is recovering and strongly oppose any restrictions on
the lucrative, if dwindling, trade.
The beluga, which can live 100 years, grow to 7 meters and weigh 1,000 kilograms, is prized by scientists because, at
250 million years old, it is one of the oldest fish species in the world and a unique subject for genetics studies.
Beluga is the rarest of the three main Caspian sturgeon species, and its caviar retails for up to $3,600 per kilogram
in the West. The U.S. decision does not affect the two other species, the sevruga and osietra that, while
alsoover-harvested, remain more plentiful.
The move came six months after the European Union re-authorized Kazakhstan, the biggest beluga exporter, to sell its
caviar in Europe after a four-year ban imposed because its cannery had failed to meet European health standards.
In June, the Geneva-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which regulates caviar commerce,
is expected to announce whether it has found that the five Caspian countries have implemented the conservation measures
they promised several years ago.
If CITES finds they have not, as the evidence suggests, it could ban all international trade in beluga sturgeon,
which would make poaching much less attractive.
Canneries in Russia and Kazakhstan say that they sell caviar to foreign buyers for $500 per kilogram, while the same
caviar, legal or illegal, retails for around $200 per kilogram in the region.
As of 2002, the United States imported 60 percent of the world's beluga caviar, a drop from 80 percent two years
earlier.
.TX-..**********************************************
[The Moscow Times] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
