Caspian Caviar Quotas Ineffective

Quotas on Caspian Sea caviar exports are ineffective and will not help restore dwindling sturgeon stocks, Kazakstan-based analysts and ecologists have told NBCentralAsia.



The secretariat of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Cites, has lifted the almost total ban on the export of caviar it imposed last year, and the countries bordering the Caspian can this year resume exporting sevruga and osetra caviar. However, total volumes have been reduced by 15 per cent compared with 2005.



Up to 90 per cent of all sturgeon caviar on the world market comes from the Caspian.



Analysts, however, say the ban and new quotas are ineffective. “A one year of ban for caviar export is not enough to restore the stock,” said analyst Eduard Poletaev.



Most sturgeon begin to spawn at 16-21 years of age, but high levels of illegal fishing in the Caspian mean that most don’t ever reach spawning age.



Mels Eleusizov, who heads the ecological group Tabigat, suggests the best way to protect fish stocks would be for Cites to again refuse to issue export quotas for caviar, effectively banning the export of sturgeon products. Also key, he said, is for the five Caspian states to work together.



“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 Eleusizov. “The problem can be solved only by joint actions of all Caspian states. [At the moment], there isn’t any approach to solve the problem.”



Water contamination related to the oil industry is one such problem and poses a huge threat to sturgeon stocks. Environmentalists have urged the Caspian littoral states to step up their environmental monitoring efforts.



“The biggest threat for sturgeons is oil, no poacher can cause as much damage as those who recover oil,” said Poletaev. “The development of oil recovery, which has been poorly thought through from the environmental point of view in such a landlocked water body as the Caspian Sea, can destroy fragile ecosystems and lead to the complete extinction of sturgeons.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)