Download The Future of Sturgeon Caviar in the Caspian Sea

The Future of Sturgeon Caviar in the Caspian Sea
Synopsis
• Sturgeon Caviar is a highly sought after and prized resource of the
Caspian Sea, yet in the past decade, official sturgeon landings in the
Caspian Sea have decreased dramatically as a result of
environmental and human caused factors.
• This depletion of sturgeon population can be contributed to the
combination of many factors: illegal catch, poaching, pollution, loss
of habitat, over-harvesting, life history characteristics, and the
collapse of the soviet union and the breaking up of joint resource
management in the Caspian Sea.
• Our focus is to outline the effects of pollution, climate change, and
loss of habitat on the Caspian Sturgeon population, and how the
lack of regulation of Sturgeon Caviar production and export has led
to the decline in the population
Habitat Destruction
• Sturgeon spawn in the rivers the feed into the Caspian Sea. After
hatching, sturgeon larvae migrate to the sea where they live and
mature, and then return to the river of origin to spawn. The principle
river for sturgeon is the Volga river. Recent construction of a dam
ruined the habitat for sturgeon spawning, particularly for the beluga
species.
• Sturgeons are large fish that can take up to 15 years to reach
reproductive age. The females of most sturgeon species can only
reproduce once every three to four years. The sturgeon must be
killed to harvest its eggs, and as a result, the sturgeon is very
vulnerable to overfishing as it is not easily capable of recovering.
Pollution
• The presence of oil in the surrounding regions of the Caspian poses
another hazard for sturgeon populations.
• This pollution causes disease and physical abnormalities which has
been observed in Beluga Sturgeon as a result of the contaminated
water in the Caspian (More specifically, in the Volga River).
• Contaminants from sewage and heavy industrial waste reside in
sediments and thus are also found in sturgeon. This contamination
also has an adverse effect on sturgeon reproduction as well as the
sturgeon prey.
• Some of the main sources of the hydrocarbon pollutions of the
Caspian Sea are: oil transportation, natural hydrocarbon leakage,
industrial wastes, the oil refinery industry and outflow of oil from
onshore oil exploration activities.
• These pollutant levels contribute to a decrease in sturgeon longevity
and reproduction.
Overuse
• The international demand for caviar
• The decline of the Soviet Union in 1991 disturbed the regularity and
authority that had monitored sturgeon with strict quotas in order to
ensure caviar production in the future.
• Ineffective Quota Systems
Climate Change
•
In conditions of climate warming and raising of Caspian Sea level it is possible
to suppose that shallow water area will increase and correspondingly water
temperature on these areas and on surface water masses of sea will increase.
•
The Caspian is an isolated basin which reacts rapidly to changes in atmosphere.
•
The Caspian Sea, being in direct connection with the draining rivers of the
melting of the ice and disconnected from the Global Ocean, recorded perfectly
this climate variability and created a prefect archive for past climate variability
record.
Sturgeons spawn in shallow waters, and the rise of sea level has destructed
many spawning grounds, most specifically in the Northern Caspian.
•
•
The Caspian Sea experienced a dramatic shift from a decline in sea levels
followed by a rapid increase which effected the sturgeon spawning productivity
as the distribution of nutrients was effected.
Recommendations
• United States Endangered Species act and banning all imports of
caviar to the United States in 2006.
• Functioning Hatcheries
•
Many organization are working with CITES, or the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species, to develop effective
measures of controlling pollution, habitat destruction, and monitoring
the export of sturgeon with precise quotas.
• Prevention of further Global Warming