12/05/2006

Sustainable Choices

This holiday season, caviar lovers can enjoy their favourite roe and feel good about their choice. Farmed caviar from the United States and Europe has been enjoying a very high profile in recent months due to its exquisite quality and environmental friendliness.

Traditionally, most wild black caviar comes from the Caspian Sea but the sturgeon found there -- whose eggs produce coveted beluga, sevruga and osetra caviar -- have been in a severe downward spiral in recent years due to overfishing, illegal trade, habitat loss and our demand for their unfertilized eggs. Of particular concern is the beluga sturgeon. Called “a living fossil” because scientists can trace its fossil record back 200 million years, it is the largest, oldest and most valuable of the sturgeon species. In January, CITES took the unusual step of banning exports of all types of caviar from Kazakhstan, Russia and Azerbaijan. Iran was allowed a small quota because it is thought to have better management than the other Caspian nations, but environmentalists feel farmed caviar is the better choice. This long-overdue move by CITES is giving the endangered sturgeon a much-needed break and doesn’t mean that caviar is off the menu. White sturgeon caviar from California, rainbow trout roe from North Carolina, and paddlefish roe from Missouri are all better choices this holiday season than eating the eggs of an endangered species.

So this holiday season, make sure you buy your caviar from reputable dealers, and choose the farmed variety. The wild sturgeon will thank you for it.

Caviar Emptor and L’Autre Caviar (“The Other Caviar”) are campaigns designed to protect and ensure long-term trade protection for the wild Caspian Sea sturgeon, particularly the beluga. In September 2005, as a result of a petition by Caviar Emptor, the US Fish and Wildlife Service banned all beluga caviar imports. In January 2006, CITES banned the international trade of most wild caviar. Both campaigns urge consumers to choose farmed caviar over wild, to give these magnificent species a chance to recover. Visit www.caviaremptor.org and www.seaweb.fr (in French) for more information.

By Julia Roberson ~ European Project Coordinator, Seaweb