Roe v. Hague

Seeing as how I'm losing my battle to remain cheery in light of today's flip-flop decision by CITES to not grant international protection to red and pink coral, I thought I'd turn my focus to another near miss, wild beluga sturgeon.

CITES declined emergency procedures to curb trade of caviar (roe) from the rare beluga sturgeon. Most of the world's caviar comes from sturgeon of the Caspian Sea, an inland sea located between Russia and Iran. Three species of sturgeon produce most of the world's caviar: beluga sturgeon produces beluga caviar; Russian sturgeon produces osetra caviar and stellate sturgeon produces sevruga caviar. Caspian Sea sturgeon are emblematic of the major problems facing fish worldwide - overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution. In this instance, overfishing is fueled largely by the market for Caspian caviar, a luxury product for which there are a number of viable alternatives.

Despite not granting formal listing for wild beluga sturgeon, CITES did throw a bone to conservationists by adding provisions to strengthen scientific oversight of the wild caviar trade in general. Conservationists said the most significant change to the caviar trade resolution was the addition of clauses to increase the transparency and international scrutiny of the quota-setting process. These include:

• Caviar export quotas must be based on a conservation strategy and cannot be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild;
• The CITES Secretariat will be required to share scientific data submitted by range states for the establishment of caviar quotas with any member nation upon request; and
• The CITES committee of wildlife biologists (called the Animals Committee) has been granted the power to convene international experts for a triennial assessment, beginning in 2008, of Caspian states’ scientific surveys of sturgeon populations and their progress, or lack thereof, in implementing required conservation measures.

“The jury is out on whether this new resolution will save Caspian sturgeons from extinction,” said Dawn Martin, president of SeaWeb and one of the Caviar Emptor awareness campaign partners. “The fate of sturgeons now rests largely in the hands of consumers, who can choose not to eat the eggs of an endangered species. Caviar connoisseurs can help save this ancient species by switching to farmed caviars, which are of the highest quality and are a better choice for the environment.”