Russia tries to save sturgeon with caviar monopoly - Reuters

Source: Reuters

Russia tries to save sturgeon with caviar monopoly
24 Jan 2008 15:08:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Russia hopes to save the
sturgeon from extinction by setting up a state caviar
monopoly and stiffening punishments for poachers, its
top fisheries official said on Thursday.

The sturgeon, popularly known as the "tsar fish", has
been hunted to the verge of extinction by poachers
and criminal groups who spirit its delicate eggs --
caviar -- from the Caspian Sea to diners across Europe,
Asia and the United States.

The idea of creating a Russian caviar monopoly has
been floated several times since the fall of the
Soviet Union, but it took officials five years to agree
on how it could work.

Russia's chief fisheries official, Andrei Krainiy, told the
cabinet that a draft law could be debated this year.

-snip-

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