Posted on 01/04/2006 9:59:14 PM PST by F14 Pilot
The global trade in legal caviar has been stopped by the United Nations, leaving gourmands gasping and conservationists cheering.
"It's not good news. . . . I have clients who don't care about the price, they need legal caviar," said Mark Omidi, owner of the Toronto-based importer Caviar Centre. "It's the most prestigious commodity."
Alarmed by the plunging number of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, a UN agency dedicated to preserving endangered species has put the onus on wild-caviar exporting nations to prove that their conservation methods can protect the fish stocks.
In the meantime, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has refused to publish this year's export quotas for caviar and other sturgeon products.
"There is now no legal caviar from wild fish," CITES secretariat spokesman Juan Carlos Vasquez told The Guardian.
Under the convention, caviar-importing nations must ensure imports are from legal sources, and they must police domestic processing and repackaging plants.
The cost of beluga, the finest caviar, was expected to double in Canada this year to more than $200 for 30 grams, insiders said. Yesterday's clampdown on exports could lead to soaring prices of existing stock, in the rare places it is available after the holiday rush.
The news was a shock to Piers Grimsditch, assistant manager of Pusateri's Fine Foods in Toronto. He said it was "a big loss" after the store's inability to get wild caviar for Christmas shoppers forced it to rely on farmed product from France.
"We've been promised it and promised it. Finally we had to get the French," Mr. Grimsditch said. "It's a nice caviar, but there is a difference. . . We're so used to having our beluga, our sevruga, our osetra."
But the decision was good news to Sue Alexander, spokeswoman for the highly regarded C restaurant in Vancouver. She said that concerns about sustainability had led their chef to take wild caviar off the menu two years ago, and that the UN move had simply confirmed their choice.
"There have been people who missed it, because it is seen as a delicacy," she conceded. "We're finding alternatives and . . . it gives our servers a great opportunity to talk to diners."
The UN agency said yesterday that years of lowered quotas had not taken into account illegal fishing.
Mr. Omidi blamed countries that had allowed the black market to flourish. He praised Iran for its fisheries controls but said it was a different story elsewhere on the landlocked Caspian Sea.
"The Russian side is the only loose side of the Caspian," he said last night. "We have to pay the price for their lack of capability to control their harvest and export of caviar."
The World Wildlife Fund welcomed news of the UN ban in a statement, saying that the sturgeon population has been in "dire straits" for years now.
Mr. Omidi was optimistic, though, that the move would help struggling stocks recover and lead to greater quality in farmed caviar. So far, he said, top-notch farmed caviar can make even experts pause, but lower-grade examples can be identified right away.
What, exactly is the enforcement power that the UN has here?
But the "cure" was worse than the illness. It is the same with the WOD.
If there were no more wild caviar would the liberals still claim that women and minorities were hardest hit?
E-gads! I'm sure Thurston Howell III will have a sourse.
Far as I'm concerned, they don't have the authority to bad a thing.
Old prohibition joke -
Little Johnny walks onto the sidewalk from his house with a bucket. It's the middle of August and the temperature is near 90. He sees his pal Jimmy and asks, "Hey, Jimmy, my daddy gave me this bucket and told me to get him some beer. Do you know where I can get some?"
Jimmy points toward the houses lining the street. Smoke and steam is pouring from the chimneys. Finally he says, "You see that one house where there's no steam coming from the chimney, Jimmy? Don't go there."
I prefer the idea of simply bombing it back to the Stone Age.
.... and take all of its supporters down with it.
78% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
On what authority? What army does the UN have to enforce it?
And will Kofi Annan be caught getting rich by illegally dealing in something ELSE?
The UN sucks ass. They can all die. Seriously.
I'm wondering too. Is that the limit of their authority anymore? Banning fish eggs? Next, they'll be banning escargot! Shameless!
OTOH, I like the small black stuff, and it's not fishy at all! Yum!
Did anyone look at the "journal" that published that soi dissant "peer reviewed" piece of academic flatulence?
That is a social science journal. All social, no science.
Nuff said. Next!
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