WWF urges Russia to ban caviar exports

Russia should stop exporting caviar to help save the threatened sturgeon population, says WWF-Russia: «there is an obvious contradiction between bans on domestic caviar sales and
commercial caviar harvesting on the one hand, and maintaining export quotas for caviar on the other,» said Alexey Vaisman of the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, a joint
programme of WWF and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

WWF is urging the Russian government to withdraw its application for an export quota and put a moratorium on caviar exports for at least 5 years in order to help the threatened sturgeon
populations.

Last year, Russia introduced a ban on retail sale of caviar and obligatory destruction of all confiscated caviar. This year, quotas for the Caspian basin were restricted to form mature spawning
schools at breeding farms and for scientific research.

However, this year again, Russia has declared an export quota to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

According to scientific reports, Beluga, Starry and Russian sturgeon populations almost entirely consist of fish spawning for the first time, because legal and illegal caviar harvesting has
eliminated virtually all mature spawning sturgeons.

Last year, the catch quota for Russian Sturgeon in the Caspian basin was 110 tons, from which, 12 tons of caviar at most can be extracted. However, Russia’s export quota for 2007 equalled 20
tons of caviar.

Although sale of caviar is completely banned in Russia, including the sale of confiscated caviar and caviar from farms, it is still sold on markets and large supermarkets.

WWF-Russia is also calling on the public to stop buying this illegal caviar and to call state Department of Economic Crimes when they spot caviar sales.

WWF is also advising consumers from other countries to refrain from buying caviar from Russia or other countries of the Caspian region, such as Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, as it
belongs to the same depleted fish stock.

«If urgent and radical measures are not taken, the sturgeon species can become extinct in a few years in the region», says Vaisman.