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Pressure from the international community having

raised awareness of its value as a bio-resource, the

region is now struggling to save the sturgeon. To

protect the vulnerable fish species more then 100

million sturgeon and bony fish juveniles have been

released into the Caspian in recent years. Four years

ago Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia agreed to

restrict further export of commercial fish stocks. All

three countries, as well as Iran, are party to the UN

Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Accord-

ing to official information received by the CITES

secretariat, the temporary ban on caviar trade is-

sued in 2001 has prompted a set of measures lift-

ing the immediate risk of extinction. The caviar

trade reportedly fell by about 70% between 1999

and 2003 but there is still every reason to moni-

tor development of the sturgeon population and

keep it on the list of endangered species. However

it is not clear to what extent the temporary ban on

caviar exports has boosted well established illegal

domestic and international trafficking, obviously

not accounted for in the official figures. To combat

the illegal trade in caviar, governments around the

world have agreed to a universal caviar labelling

system to inform traders and consumers.

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