Sturgeons reaching Black sea

“The species most in demand are also the ones that fetch the highest prices on the market. A kilo of farmed sturgeon costs €12-13, for example, and turbot roughly €9 a kilo – in Romania, that is: in Istanbul it’s more expensive, around €16,” Nikolaev adds. The problem is that the stocks of endangered fish species are being depleted faster than their life cycle. Sturgeon, for example, reach maturity pretty late, around the age of 12, and turbot at around 4 or 5 years of age. But to replenish the stocks, each species needs to be able to reproduce several times. As far as sturgeon are concerned, more than half the 30-odd species are liable to die out. Over the past few decades alone, the populations of spawn have shrunk by more than 70%.

In Moscow, 80% of the shops specialising in the sale of caviar now put fake certificates on their merchandise, according to an older study by TRAFFIC (WWF’s wildlife trade monitoring network). From 1998 to 2003, more than 1,200 metric tons of sturgeon eggs were illegally imported around the world – half of which by the EU. Sharks, sea horses and dolphins are endangered as well – especially dolphins, because they “commit suicide”: “There are a couple tens of thousands left in the sea, a few thousand of which accidentally get caught in the turbot fishing tackle, they’re attracted by the vibrations the equipment gives off. Apparently they suffocate. That happens to several thousand dolphins every year. In Romania, dolphins haven’t been hunted since ’67.”