EU rules to protect sturgeon
The European Union has introduced a new regulation to protect sturgeon and combat illegal trade in caviar. The fish has been pushed to the brink of extinction in the Caspian Sea. The rules will require all tins of caviar to bear an official label specifying the source of the caviar and the year of harvest. All re-packaging plans have to be licensed and registered.
The new labelling system should help to reduce illegal trade and ultimately illegal
harvesting. All sturgeon should benefit, especially the beluga in the Caspian, whose numbers have declined by an estimated 90 per cent in the past 20 years. The beluga can take 15 years to reach reproductive age and can live to be 100.
The new rules implement the universal labelling system for caviar introduced under the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
