Beluga Caviar - Harvesting

Harvesting

The Beluga sturgeon is currently considered to be critically endangered, causing the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to ban in 2005 the importation of Beluga caviar which originated in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea basin. In 2006, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) suspended all trade made with the traditional caviar-producing sturgeons of the Caspian and Black Seas (Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga), (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine) due to the producing countries' failure to apply international regulations and recommendations. Caviar from Iran is exempted from the ban. Iran is considered by CITES to practice effective conservation and policing of its fisheries. In January 2007, this ban was partly lifted, allowing the sale of 96 tons of caviar, 15 per cent below the official 2005 level. CITES maintained the 2007 quotas for 2008, drawing criticism for doing little to protect the declining sturgeon population.

The Beluga sturgeon can take up to 20 years to reach maturity. The fish harvested for caviar are often nearly 2,000 pounds (900 kg). The eggs themselves are the largest of the commonly used roes, and range in color from dark gray (almost black) to light gray, with the lighter colors coming from older fish, and being the most valued. A pearly white variety, called Almas (Persian for diamond), taken from a centennial female sturgeon, is the rarest type of Beluga available, with an extremely small production and prices reaching almost $25,000 per kilogram.

Any additions by producers diminish the value of the roe, and the caviar usually reaches the market without any additions or processing whatsoever.