Vital Caspian Graphics - Challenges Beyond Caviar

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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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