World caviar trade moving to North America; Canadian sturgeon stocks at risk

The report, “Caviar and Conservation,” was released today by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of World Wildlife Fund and the IUCN (the World Conservation Union). The report documents an increase in both legal and illegal catch and trade of paddlefish and sturgeon in North America in recent years, coinciding with the dramatic decline of beluga sturgeon and other traditional caviar-producing fisheries around the Caspian Sea.

The harvest of sturgeon and paddlefish eggs for caviar could have a significant impact on several North American species, including those already considered endangered or threatened.

“Demand in major caviar-consuming countries, primarily in the European Union, Japan and the United States, far outstrips what North American wild stocks and commercial aquaculture are currently producing,” said Ernie Cooper, Canadian Representative of TRAFFIC. “The fledgling aquaculture industry is years away from being able to supplant production from wild sources.”

Until recent times, Caspian Sea fisheries have produced an overwhelming preponderance of the caviar in international trade. Once carefully regulated, the industry suffered from rampant overfishing and a takeover by organized crime after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Beluga sturgeon stocks were reduced by as much as 90 percent and international trade restrictions were imposed.

North American sturgeon and paddlefish are the largest alternative fisheries to the Caspian Sea for caviar production, and prices for roe from North American species are rising. North American caviar does not command the prices that the more sought-after Caspian Sea caviar does, but it can be a profitable business. Law enforcement authorities are also beginning to find roe from North American species mislabelled and sold fraudulently as Caspian Sea caviar, TRAFFIC found.

“The production of North American caviar could be a profitable industry, but only if provinces with healthy sturgeon populations manage the resource carefully,” Cooper said. “Four of the five species of sturgeon found in Canada have reduced populations and are particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation. We need to ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.”

“Caviar and Conservation” is the most comprehensive assessment done of North American sturgeon and paddlefish management since the dramatic decline of the Caspian Sea industry in the past decade. In it, TRAFFIC also examines other threats to sturgeon and paddlefish in North America, including pollution, damming of rivers and unregulated commercial fishing.

There are five species of sturgeon in Canadian waters. Three – the shortnose sturgeon, green sturgeon and white sturgeon – are listed as species of Special Concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The paddlefish is extinct in Canada.