Laptop Battery Rising sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea mean caviar-producing
countries can export more of the gourmet fish eggs under new
quotas, a key U.N. conservation body said Friday.
yearly caviar harvest was closely regulated by the Soviet Union but has become erratic since that nation's collapse in 1991, U.S. officials say. - sometimes more than $ - has led to overfishing and extensive poaching. In 1998, a group of 140 nations set quotas for the export of beluga and two other types of Caspian Sea caviar.
Thinkpad The United Nations' Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species, or CITES, praised efforts by Caspian
governments since it lifted a yearlong ban on the
multimillion-dollar caviar harvest, imposed in an effort to save
the endangered fish.
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Microsoft The ban, which ended in March 2002, had halted exports by
Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
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Laptop Computers Caviar has been harvested in the Caspian for thousands of years,
but pollution, loss of spawning habitats and overfishing have taken
a heavy toll.
Overfishing and illegal trade in sturgeon eggs have combined to make caviar a poor choice for holiday gifts and gatherings, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says. The conservation group notes that sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea, the principal source of the world's caviar, have experienced serious declines. The caviar trade is also placing increasing pressure on North American sturgeon species, WWF says.
Laptop Computer ``After a decade that saw the collapse of sturgeon stocks due to
overfishing, the governments in the Caspian Sea region are now
fully committed to enforcing CITES regulations,'' said Jim
Armstrong, the organization's deputy head. ``As a result of their
joint efforts to monitor and manage fish stocks and combat
poaching, they are truly starting to turn the situation
around.''
That would cut off about 20% of the legal caviar imports to the USA, which consumes about 80% of the world's beluga caviar. Last year, Americans imported 16 tons of the caviar, valued at more than $30 million, from Russia and other Caspian Sea nations. Wildlife officials will hold a hearing on the proposal Thursday in Arlington, Va. They could decide in early 2003 whether to list the beluga sturgeon as endangered.
Desktop Computer Recent studies show there are around 11.6 million sturgeon in
the Caspian, up from 5 million in 2000, Armstrong said. Around 40
percent of them are adult fish, including caviar-spawning females,
up from just 5 percent three years ago.
Notebooks ``These figures are considered conservative,'' Armstrong said.
He praised governments for sacrificing immediate income from caviar
sales to protect the fish and
build up stocks.
Lenovo CITES said it had decided in response to raise 2003 export
quotas to almost 148 tons, up from the 142 tons allowed last year.
The quotas were proposed by the Caspian governments.
Hard Drive The initial 2001 quota, before the ban imposed in June of that
year, was around 154 tons.
Travelstar CITES lifted the ban after deciding the four countries had made
good progress in a survey of stocks and in plans for a quota across
the region. Iran, the fifth nation on the Caspian, took part in the
program to give a coordinated response, even though its management
system was already judged adequate. Iranian exports were unaffected
by the CITES ban.
Gateway Last year's lifting of the ban angered
environmental groups, which said
the fish was still threatened. Campaigners also said they were
unhappy with the latest CITES move.
Laptop Parts ``I think it's extremely unwise to be raising the quota,'' said
Ellen Pikitch, a marine biologist with the U.S.-based coalition
Caviar Emptor. ``If anything, they should be reduced. It's
perplexing to me why CITES has done this.''
Software Pikitch told The Associated Press that her own studies in the
region suggest the Caspian's sturgeon population has fallen by 39
percent. ``We think there aren't enough adult fish in the
population to support commercial fishery.''
Hard Drives Pikitch noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
considering declaring the beluga sturgeon -- which produces the
most valuable caviar -- an endangered species under U.S. law. Such
a decision would effectively kill sales of beluga caviar in
America, which took 80 percent of Caspian exports in 2000.
Electronics On the world's legal wholesale market, 2.2 pounds of caviar
costs an average of $500, while premium beluga caviar can sell for
$4,000.
Canon Until 1991, the Soviet Union and Iran controlled virtually all
the world's caviar market, investing heavily in maintaining fish
stocks. Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the system
collapsed and many entrepreneurs sprang up to replace the
state-owned
companies.
Desktop Pc Official catch levels fell from a peak of about 30,000 tons in
the late 1970s to less than one-tenth of that figure in the late
1990s. At the time of the ban, the legal trade was estimated to be
worth $100 million a year, but the illegal catch in the four former
Soviet republics was believed to be 10-12 times greater than
that.
Desktop Computers ``We don't believe it's at that level now,'' although CITES does
not have solid figures, Armstrong said.
Think Pad Scientists are able to guess the size of the illegal catch by
estimating the number of spawning fish entering the Caspian and
comparing it to estimates of the number of fish in the sea. ``This
gives an indication of how much illegal offtake there must have
been,'' Armstrong said.
Repair Armstrong also welcomed moves in Caspian nations to regulate
domestic caviar sales. Most caviar is consumed at
home and thus falls outside the
quotas.
Data Recovery Associated Press - 9/5/2003
Topic: Ocean
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