Florida may be key to continuity of caviar
Sturgeon mature faster in warm weather, says new fish farmer.
By ROBERTA SABBAN
Special to the Daily News
Friday, October 06, 2006
It is hard to believe but it is almost time to think about stocking the larder with tasty morsels for the holiday season.
For those who love to begin festive meals with a bit of bubbly and a few dollops of Caspian caviar, the news is not good. There will be very few of those lightly salted delicate sturgeon eggs to go around. The decrease in production is because of environmental degradation and overfishing.
Caspian beluga and sevruga have been put on the United Nations Convention on International Trade's endangered species list. Many scientists say several species of Caspian sturgeon may become extinct in our lifetime.
There will be a small amount of Caspian osetra caviar from Iran on the market this year, but it will be very expensive.
The good news is that other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Uruguay, China, Israel and the United States have started producing a variety of quality caviars that are finding ready buyers throughout the world.
Sterling Caviar in Elverta, Calif., has been in business since 1994 and today is the largest caviar farm in the United States. The company processes roe from the white sturgeon. This species has lived in the Sacramento River for about 80 million years.
Normally the roe is harvested once a year, in the spring when the fish spawn. Because of demand they are having a second harvest this fall to keep up with more than 15 tons worth of orders.
Caviar lovers are ready to sample all of the new species coming into the marketplace.
"We have different roes we are serving," said Executive Chef Hubert des Marais of The Four Seasons in Palm Beach. "There is farm-raised paddle fish caviar from the northern part of the Mississippi, similar to sevruga, and hackle back. We have wild salmon caviar from Alaska and tobikko from Japan. We take smoked salmon caviar and flavor it ourselves with citrus and vodka."
The real hope for lovers of quality Caspian caviar may lie in Pierson, about one hour west of Daytona.
Mark Zaslavsky and his partner, Mark Gelman, co-owners of Marky's, a Miami-based company that imports gourmet foods and specializes in caviar, started importing live beluga, osetra and sevruga sturgeon from Russia on April 25, 2004.
The first beluga, No. 189, came into the country weighing 26 pounds. By Dec. 8 of that year it weighed 46 pounds, Marky's said. The fish were nourished with a special feed that included plenty of protein and fat. A fully mature fish can weigh up to 200 pounds.
Things were going swimmingly until last year's hurricane damaged a lot of the Sturgeon AquaFarms LLC breeding stock. In spite of that setback, the fish apparently adore Florida and have successfully adapted to their new environment.
"There is no need to kill the fish in the Caspian. It is possible to have caviar without killing the female," Zaslavsky said. He spent part of the summer in Russia with his Florida team watching the techniques for harvesting caviar and putting the fish back in the tanks.
"We thought they were going to lose some fish, but when we checked the tank and counted, all the fish were alive and swimming around."
Sturgeon AquaFarms hopes to use the same method. Harvest the caviar and keep the females alive and healthy. They can harvest eggs right now for caviar, but they want the fish to grow so that they can reserve the eggs for reproduction.
"The best way to protect the species and continue providing customers with the high-quality caviar they expect is to farm it in the United States," Zaslavsky said. "The sturgeon mature faster in Florida because the weather is warmer."
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