Russia proposes 5yr caviar ban

2008-03-27 16:17

Moscow - Russia proposed on Thursday that all countries bordering the Caspian Sea impose a ban of at least five years on fishing for sturgeon, prized for its caviar eggs, Russian news agencies reported.

"I will propose a moratorium on the fishing of sturgeon of at least five years to our Caspian Sea partners," the head of Russia's state fisheries agency, Andrei Krainy, was quoted as saying at a press conference in Moscow.

"We are ready to renounce sturgeon fishing, even for research purposes," Krainy continued. "The losses to our neighbours' budgets will not be large and we will gain much more" by imposing a ban, he said.

Ninety percent of the world's sturgeon, one of the world's oldest species of fish, live in the Caspian Sea, and their eggs have been prized as an expensive delicacy for centuries.

But environmentalists warn that over-fishing has depleted sturgeon stocks. Research by the non-governmental organisation Caviar Emptor found a 90% decline in the population of beluga sturgeon in the last two decades.

- AFP