GENEVA – Illegal sales of caviar in Europe are endangering the survival of some sturgeon species, two conservation groups said.
More than 25,000 pounds of illegal caviar were seized in Europe over the last five years, the World Wildlife Fund and Britain-based Traffic, which monitors trade in wildlife, said in a statement released today. Far more was sold on the street and in fine restaurants, the groups said.
“A thriving illegal trade in caviar across Europe is pushing many sturgeon species in Asia and Europe towards extinction,” the report said.
The illegal trade is carried out by culprits ranging from individuals who sell single jars in open-air market stalls to operations that pay couriers to deliver suitcases stuffed with black-market sturgeon roe, the groups said.
Legal caviar exports are regulated by an international system of permits run by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The Geneva-based body imposes annual quotas on caviar exports – about 250,000 pounds in 2004, down from about 320,000 pounds in 2003 – but environmentalists say that hasn’t prevented the sturgeon’s decline.
While the amount of legally traded caviar plummeted by almost 70 percent between 1998 and 2003 – to about 100 tons annually – Traffic and the World Wildlife Fund said rising illegal sales were “very likely” offsetting the decline.
“We fear that quantities of illegal caviar are much higher than official statistics due to the covert nature of the trade,” said Stephanie Theile of Traffic.
Theile said European governments have failed to properly implement convention recommendations for labeling that would make it easier for consumers to distinguish between legal and smuggled caviar.
The groups did not single out European countries that were lax in controlling sales, but they said most illegal caviar was seized in Germany, followed by Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland and Britain.
Caviar fetches retail prices of up to $200 an ounce in Europe and North America, which import about 85 percent of the legal caviar traded internationally, Traffic said.
The report warned that the illegal trade also is flourishing in countries where caviar is produced. Most sturgeon eggs consumed in Russia – the world’s largest caviar exporter alongside Iran – come from illegal sources, the groups claimed.
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