Posted on 01/03/2006 2:55:01 PM PST by liberallarry
MOSCOW, Jan. 3 - The global export trade in caviar, the briny eggs of sturgeon that for decades have been one of the world's most exotic and lucrative wildlife products, was abruptly ordered shut down today by the international convention that helps nations manage threatened species.
Sturgeon products, legal and illegal, are thought to be worth at least several hundred million dollars each year. But scientists and managers have said for decades that the caviar industry, and the species that drive it, are in jeopardy.
The world's remaining sturgeon fisheries have all suffered from plummeting populations, caused by a combination of dam building, pollution, excessive fishing and unchecked black markets. Several localized extinctions of sturgeon stocks around the world have already occurred, and many other species, including ones in the United States, have been reduced to remnant populations.
The secretariat ordered a temporary ban twice before, in 2001 and in 2002, which were lifted when exporting nations agreed to follow stricter conservation measures.
But exporters have not lived up to their previous commitments, and sturgeon populations have continued to fall, leading to the new suspension,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Forced Sturgeon Abortions!
NGO's taking over the world again....
Russia is importing caviar from of all places the Missouri River now. Most don't know it, but in the early 1900s America was the largest producer of caviar.
Outlaw Crackers and Toast Tips!
environmental problems seem to be the issues that are the least amenable to conservative solutions. i guess the libertarians would propose privatizing the oceans or the schools of sturgeon.
are there any conservative solutions to this problem? i guess that we could suggest private companies could maintain small sturgeon populations in private aquatic preserves. then only the REALLY rich guys could afford caviar. somehow that seems appropriate.
"First it's the gas, now its the caviar--when is this going to end? Oh wait they don't export anything else . . . ."
parts for nuclear weapons.
Can sturgeons be farmed? The trend in luxury goods is to keep the tantalizing top-line items to generate buzz, while building a larger base by building more affordable product lines. An equivalent to "cultured pearls" is a possible market solution.
Let's shut down caviar production so the price skyrockets, the Russian mafia can make a killing and UN fascist NGOs can get a cut.
Calling Kofi. You have a fish on the line.
Actually yea.
Several types of fish and caviar have been.
When laws like these pass, then competitors seek alternatives.
Luxery good producers will seek a higher price, if they have a minimum of competitors, but whenever, other folks see money to be made, they jump in (regardless of what the original producers want or feel about it).
If you privatize and allow for competition, you'd see both prices dropping, and more efficiency in production.
Unfortunatly for Sturgeon producers, brand names (i.e. the corporations) don't matter, the caviar itself does.
Expect this law to produce a whole lotta poaching and a thriving black market, which will further reduce the population.
They aren't amenable to any solutions...except that offered by the four horsemen. My hope is that education will lead to something before they ride again.
Not sure, but I have been hearing about substituties, and this was before the ban kicked in (I'm referring to the ban, before the UN got involved, not this one).
I have heard that there are a few ventures aiming to setup an ultra-premium caviar industry in British Columbia based on the native sturgeon that live in the remote parts of that region. Apparently, the quality of the caviar up there was last noted in the 19th century, but largely forgotten in time. So there is still hope for the caviar lovers of the world (and I am one).
That said, there is little that compares to really proper Beluga when it comes to caviar. Still I am holding out on the hope that the obscure North American caviar is as good as I've heard from second-hand sources, having not tried it myself. I have heard that it can be excellent, at least at the level of good Osetra.
there was a thread awhile back about growing meat in vats (i think from cells obtained from cloning).
maybe we could grow genetically-engineered vat-sturgeon in big tanks, and harvest the eggs.
kind of a soylent-sturgeon.
so, all we need to do is print up some labels in Russian, go to the Missouri River, and undercut their prices! we'll be RICH, i tell ya, RICH!!!!!
(does anyone on his thread know how to write "Product of Missouri, USA", or whichever state they get the sturgeon from, in Russian?)
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