Free Republic

BANDAR-E ANZALI, Iran (Reuters) - Caviar fishermen know full well that the tussle with an irate, half-tonne sturgeon can pitch one of their fragile skiffs into the icy, waves of the Caspian -- most have lost friends that way. Generation after generation still brave the elements to harvest the salty delicacy for which aficionados will pay $2,000 (1,182 pounds) a kilo (2.2 lb). But the fishermen on the windswept beach at Bandar-e Anzali fear illegal fishing and oil pollution mean they could be the last to scour the Caspian for its "black gold". Aziz Rezaniaz, 44, has spent his life...

Switzerland to destroy massive caviar haul BERN (AFP) Nov 03, 2003 Switzerland will destroy two tonnes of illicit caviar imports following one of the biggest international seizures of its kind, authorities said on Monday. The caviar, worth an estimated three million Swiss francs (two million euros, 2.2 million dollars), was seized at a duty-free warehouse in the Swiss city of Geneva in 2001 after falling foul of international laws restricting the lucrative caviar trade, the Swiss federal veterinary office said in a statement. The shipments, from a distributor in Dubai, carried flawed Russian export permits which listed the caviar as...

One of the world's most valuable fish could be driven to extinction because an international conservation body has miscalculated how many are left in the wild. So claim fisheries scientists who are warning that flawed science is behind a decision this month to allow continued fishing of beluga sturgeon, whose caviar can fetch $3000 a kilogram. Trade in beluga and the caviar they produce is governed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. CITES believes that beluga sturgeon numbers are on the increase, reaching 11.6 million in 2002, up from 9.3 million in 2001 and 7.6 million in...

Fish Cesareans Have Guests in Stitches By Valeria Korchagina Staff Writer True or false? Russian sturgeons are cut open, their caviar removed, and then sewed up to live another day. President Vladimir Putin told President George W. Bush over dinner at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence Friday night that Russia has many sturgeons swimming about with surgical stitches. While other dinner guests roared with laughter, Bush said he believed him. Whether he knew it or not, Bush was right. The conversation took place when the guests were being treated to caviar and Putin announced that some Russian caviar is harvested in a...