U.S. to Rule on Beluga Caviar

By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Published: January 28, 2004

HE federal Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to rule this week on whether to protect beluga sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would ban sales of beluga caviar in the United States.

The species has been threatened by a loss of habitat in the Caspian and Black Seas, overharvesting, pollution and illegal trade.

A final ruling, drawn up by the service's Scientific Authority, is due by Saturday. Robert R. Gabel, the chief of that division, said he could not disclose the ruling. But Greg Jackson, a special agent in charge of the service's investigative branch, said he thought that the department would list the beluga as endangered.

By law, such a listing would require the service, a division of the Interior Department, to prohibit the import, export, interstate shipping and sale of beluga caviar, the most expensive caviar. The United States now accounts for 25 percent of the world beluga market. About three tons of beluga caviar was legally imported last year into the United States, where it sells for $1,500 to $2,500 a pound. Less than 20 percent of the caviar sold in the United States is beluga.

Like beluga, the two other main sturgeon varieties used for caviar, sevruga and osetra, are regulated according to an international convention on endangered species.

Most caviar importers oppose a ban, contending that closing the American market would not stop the illegal trade, since caviar is easily transported and concealed. Sales in Russia and Europe would continue, they argue. And without sales to the United States, they say, countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria would have less money for restocking and enforcing the international quotas and regulations.

Supporters of a ban, including several environmental groups and Azerbaijan, a producing country that exports very little beluga, insist that enacting it would go a long way toward halting the decline of the fish in the Caspian and Black Seas.