CITES suspends exports of beluga caviar until countries agree on quotas

CITES suspends exports of beluga caviar until countries agree on quotas    The United Nations agency responsible for protecting the world’s endangered animals and plants has temporarily suspended global trade in beluga sturgeon caviar until countries exporting this commodity can agree to regional quotas.
   The UN secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) said in a statement Tuesday that “countries sharing sturgeon stocks must agree amongst themselves on catch and export quotas.”
   CITES is a global agreement under which 169 countries attempt to control the international wildlife trade through a permit system.
   The CITES secretariat said it would not issue 2006 sturgeon export quotas until countries engaged in this trade provide additional information showing that their proposed catch and export quotas allow the sturgeon population to preserve itself.
   Sturgeon is harvested mainly from the Caspian Sea, which accounts for 90 percent of the international caviar trade. Other fishing grounds are located in the Black Sea and lower Danube River, and from the Heilongjiang/Amur River on the border of Russia and China.