Pierson's caviar fish farm gets nod
It can raise beluga sturgeon and sell the costly eggs, a U.S. agency says.

PIERSON -- It may be clear sailing now for a Volusia County fish farm trying to be the first American facility to raise and sell the world's most expensive caviar.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that the agency will allow aquaculture facilities to raise and sell the meat and eggs of the beluga sturgeon, an ancient fish native to Russia, Iran and other nations of the Caspian and Black seas.

Federal officials also said that imports of the caviar and meat could continue, as long as the exporting nations comply with new requirements to file management plans and other reports with the wildlife agency.

Thursday's announcement was a great relief to Miami-based caviar importer Mark Zaslavsky, who has spent years and millions of dollars to establish the Pierson operation, which features several types of sturgeon from the Caspian region.

"This is great news," Zaslavsky said. "Aquaculture is the future."

However, the announcement disappointed an environmental coalition that had lobbied to put the fish on the endangered-species list. Leaders of the coalition, dubbed "Caviar Emptor," worried Thursday that the federal exemptions would let the fish continue to decline.

"The U.S. has a responsibility to act to protect the beluga by restricting our own imports, to set a precedent for the rest of the world, and also to indicate that we're serious about using our trade power to further conservation," said Lisa Speer, a senior policy analyst with the National Resources Defense Council.

The beluga sturgeon, a fish threatened by rampant poaching, was declared a threatened species last year. That decision could have halted imports of the caviar, which retails for $70 to $100 an ounce, because the U.S. Endangered Species Act normally prohibits trade of a protected species. The United States imports 80 percent of the world's legal caviar, according to a federal report.

U.S. officials said Thursday that they would grant a trade exemption as long as the exporting nations can prove they are trying to manage the harvest and conserve the species.

Aquaculture facilities raising beluga sturgeon could also apply for an exemption, as long as the fish farms prove that their facility won't harm the wild beluga population and that the fish farms are working with the native countries to help conserve the wild population, federal officials said.

Fish farms must also prove that there is enough protection to prevent beluga sturgeon from escaping into the wild, according to the federal rule.

Zaslavsky said his facility can meet those requirements. "Last year, we had three hurricanes, and the fish did not walk," he said. "The fish cannot escape these concrete tanks."

He said it's unlikely that any birds could feed and potentially transport the fish away. Beluga sturgeon can grow to 15 feet in length and 1,800 pounds. "Only a pterodactyl could take that fish away," he said.

It may only be a matter of a few months before the farm, which already has sexually mature female fish, can produce caviar, although Zaslavsky said most of the first round of eggs will be kept to raise more fish.

Ludmilla Lelis can be reached
at llelis@orlandosentinel.com
or 386-253-0964.