MIAMI – Sept. 16, 2004 - Contrary to a widely circulated report by The New York Times stating The Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species (CITES) “has halted exports of caviar until countries where it is produced comply with an agreement to protect sturgeon,” CITES in a press statement issued Sept. 3, 2004 affirmed it has not “banned” caviar or “punished” producers.

In its response to the recent press reports on CITES quotas for sturgeon and caviar, CITES said in its statement “these articles have contained a number of errors and misquotes that are likely to have misled readers about the current situation concerning the 2004 quotas for international trade in sturgeon and caviar.”

“Marky’s continues to import caviar from the Caspian and Black Seas in compliance with all international laws and regulations. According to CITES, more than five tons of beluga caviar from the Danube River and the Black Sea region will be available for export this season alone,” said Mark Zaslavsky, president of Marky’s. “In light of these misleading reports, we want to make it known we continue to provide the world’s finest beluga, osetra and sevruga caviar to our customers.”

Additional information about current international regulations and quotas can be found on the CITES Web site at www.cites.org.

About Marky’s
Marky’s is a leading gourmet foods importer and distributor that was founded in 1985 in Miami, Florida. Marky’s has been importing and exporting more than 600 varieties of gourmet foods for over 18 years, including Russian caviar, French foie gras, smoked salmon, angulas, truffles, saffron, dry peppercorns, escargots, specialty meats, cheeses and wild mushrooms. The company’s specialties are Black Sea and Caspian caviar and French foie gras. Please visit www.markys.com for more information.