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UN Agency Halts Approving 2006 Caviar Exports

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 09:00 CST

UN agency halts approving 2006 caviar exports

GENEVA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations agency controlling endangered species announced Tuesday that it is unable to approve the 2006 export quotas for caviar and other sturgeon products until exporting countries provide more information about the sustainability of their sturgeon catch.

"Countries wishing to export sturgeon products ... must demonstrate that their proposed catch and export quotas reflect current population trends and are sustainable," said Willem Wijnstekers, secretary general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

CITES is concerned that the proposed quotas, while lower than for previous years, may not fully reflect the reductions in stocks or make sufficient allowance for illegal fishing.

The 169 member countries of CITES have set strict conditions for permitting caviar exports. Countries sharing sturgeon stocks must agree amongst themselves on catch and export quotas based on scientific surveys of the stocks. They must also adopt a common management plan.

Although many of the measures adopted by CITES are aimed at exporting countries, importers such as the European Union also have important obligations.

"They must ensure that all imports are from legal sources, and they must establish registration systems for their domestic processing and repackaging plants and rules for the labeling of repackaged caviar. Many key importing countries have still not put these measures in place," CITES said in a statement.

CITES said it remains hopeful that the exporting countries will supply the missing data that may allow international trade to resume. However, since the CITES system only allows sturgeon products to be exported during the year in which they are harvested and processed, as of now it is not possible to export caviar and other sturgeon products from shared stocks.

In 2001, CITES responded to high levels of poaching and illegal trade in the Caspian Sea -- which accounts for some 90 percent of world caviar -- by imposing a temporary ban. Extensive discussions and stronger actions by the range states were required before the 2002 through 2005 annual quotas could be agreed.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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