Cut in caviar exports to save the sturgeon 'could boost illegal trade'

Export quotas for beluga caviar, the highest grade of the delicacy, were halved yesterday, threatening a global shortage of legal sturgeon eggs.

The ruling was made by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in an effort to preserve the beluga sturgeon, the rarest species of the fish.

Official exports from the Caspian Sea region, which provides 90 per cent of the world's caviar, were cut to just under 4.5 tons for 2004, down from nearly nine tons last year.

Dr Jim Armstrong, deputy secretary-general of Cites, insisted that there would be "little" effect on caviar prices, as in America there was already a perception that there were no legal exports. "I think the prices have already gone up," he said. Petrossian, a specialist caviar retailer in Paris, offers royal beluga caviar for $3,000 per kg, about £800 per lb.

Quotas for other grades of caviar were also reduced, although not as dramatically.

Dr Armstrong added that the prospect of increasing legal exports in the future would give producer countries an incentive to curb illegal sales. He estimated black market sales to be "up to three or four or five times" the legal quotas.

Steven Broad, executive director of Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, said: "The beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea is in a dire state.

"This is a precautionary move which we welcome, yet there is a real need for longer-term conservation targets."

But Eugene Lapointe, president of an organisation which promotes the sustainable use of wildlife, predicted caviar prices would rise due to the ruling.

"I'm not sure this will have positive consequences for the conservation of the beluga," he said. "It creates an incentive for people to catch and to buy illegally."