Volga River Towns Fade Along With Prized Sturgeon

Volga River Towns Fade Along With Prized Sturgeon

By Anne Garrels

Source: npr

11/5/2010

Astrakhan is the last major city downstream on the Volga River, on the edge of a delta reaching into the Caspian Sea. This is the spawning ground for beluga and its cousin, the highly prized Caspian sturgeon, which together produce four-fifths of the world's black caviar.
Astrakhan has long been known as Russia's caviar capital -- but no more. As the fish neared extinction in the 1990s, Russia declared the situation critical. It has banned all commercial sturgeon fishing in the Caspian basin and the export of all black caviar.

Now, both the sturgeon and the local people struggle to survive.

Not so long ago, Astrakhan's fish market glistened with heaps of affordable fresh caviar -- sturgeon's gooey black eggs, often called "black gold."

But these days, the only caviar legally available there is from government-regulated fish farms. There aren't a lot of them and they don't come near to meeting Russian and world demand for caviar -- even at a whopping $1,000 to $2,000 per kilogram on the official market.

The economic decline is reflected in the crumbling one-story wooden buildings that still make up much of the city center.

Sturgeon

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