About half of commercial caviar products in some European countries are illegal and some do not even contain traces of sturgeon eggs. That is the conclusion of a study carried out by eight researchers from institutions in Germany, Austria, China and Italy, and published this Monday in the journal Current Biology.
Wild caviar, an expensive delicacy made from sturgeon eggs, has been illegal for decades since poaching brought the fish to the brink of extinction. Today, legal, internationally marketable caviar can only come from farmed sturgeon, and strict regulations are in place to help protect the species.
However, a team of sturgeon experts found evidence that these regulations are being actively violated after conducting genetic and isotopic analyzes on caviar samples from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.
“The conservation status of Danube sturgeon populations makes each individual important for their survival and the observed intensity of poaching undermines any conservation efforts,” write the researchers, led by Arne Ludwig of the Leibniz Institute for Research. Zoo and Wildlife Research (Germany).
In Europe there are four species of sturgeon (the beluga, the Russian, the stellate and the sterlet) that are capable of producing caviar. The last remaining wild populations of this species in the EU are found in the Danube River and the Black Sea.
Each species has been protected since 1998 by Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). In 2000, its inclusion on that list was accompanied by a strict international labeling system for all caviar products, designed to stop illegal trade.
Despite these protections, it was widely known from local anecdotal accounts that illegal poaching still occurs, even though no formal investigations have been conducted.
To discover the true source of commercially sold caviar products produced in the sturgeon’s native regions, researchers purchased caviar both online and in person from a wide variety of sources, including local markets, stores, restaurants, bars and facilities. of aquaculture. They also included five samples that had been seized by authorities. In total, they collected and analyzed 149 samples of caviar and sturgeon meat.
After analyzing the DNA and isotopic patterns of each sample, the team discovered that 21% of the samples came from wild-caught sturgeon and that these wild-caught fish were sold in all the countries studied.
They also found that 29% of the samples violated Cites regulations and trade laws, which included caviar that listed the wrong species of sturgeon or the wrong country of origin, and categorized another 32% of the samples as “customer deception.” , being samples declared as wild products that actually originated in aquaculture.
“Our results indicate a continued demand for wild sturgeon products, which is alarming, as these products endanger wild sturgeon populations,” the researchers write.
The authors note that “persistent demand fuels poaching and indicates that consumers do not fully accept aquaculture products as substitutes.” “In addition, caviar sold in violation of Cites and EU obligations calls into question the effectiveness of controls in general and the labeling system in particular,” they add.
Three of the samples, served in Romania in a dish called “sturgeon soup,” were not sturgeon at all. Instead, the researchers identified the fish as European catfish and Nile perch.
The authors suggest that the high volume of illegal poaching activity could be an indicator that local seafood sellers lack adequate income opportunities, which could increase pressure to engage in illegal fishing activities.
They also point to the fact that there is likely to be a lack of effective law enforcement in these regions, either because stopping illegal poaching is not a priority for local authorities or because they do not have the tools to prove the illegal origin of a fish.
“Although poaching and illegal wildlife trade are often considered a problem in developing countries, these findings show that a high proportion of poached sturgeon products come from the EU and accession states,” the authors emphasize.