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

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
3451	British Teenager Catches Behemoth 96-Pound Wels Catfish	fieldandstream	2021-09-24	UK
3452	Fishing on the L.A. River without a pole	theeastsiderla	2021-09-26	US
3453	The redfish fishery is returning. So is angst about quotas	CBC News	2021-10-16	CA
3454	Less Than 50 Sockeye Salmon Return to Idaho’s Red Fish Lake	newsradio1310	2021-10-11	US
3455	Alaska’s vanishing salmon push Yukon River tribes to brink	opb	2021-10-02	US
3456	Jeremy Wade on the ‘weirdest’ creature he had crossed paths with	entertainment	2021-09-27	US
3457	DEEP officials recall declaration for massive catfish caught in Coventry	FOX61	2021-09-29	US
3458	Hendersonville man catches another monster fish on Old Hickory Lake by accident	Nashville Tennessean	2021-09-19	US
3459	Anglers feared red tide would create a ‘dead zone’ in Tampa Bay.	bradenton	2021-09-24	US
3460	Cornwall fisherman questions 'absurd' tracking system for small boats	bbc	2021-09-19	UK
3461	The White Lady, endemic fish of the Yucatan Peninsula threatened by water pollution	theyucatantimes	2021-09-24	US
3462	No violations at salmon farm where more than 100,000 fish died, state says	bangordailynews	2021-09-27	US
3463	Tasmania’s salmon industry detonates underwater bombs to scare away seals – but at what cost?	theconversation	2021-09-16	AU
3464	Outrage as supertrawler fishing boats return to East and West Sussex coast	sussexlive	2021-09-20	UK
3465	Video shows sea ‘bubbling’ at St Leonards as mackerel force whitebait fish on to beach	hastings observer	2021-09-20	UK
3466	Ipswich ‘underwater highway’ recognised for protecting lungfish in new documentary	ipswichfirst	2021-09-17	AU
3467	Plan would use poison to restore Yellowstone cutthroat trout	wyofile	2021-09-21	US
3468	Fisherman goes deep to catch record fish	usatoday	2021-09-21	US
3469	How Transparent, 'Vampire' Catfish May Travel Unseen Through the Amazon River	gizmodo	2021-09-20	BZ
3470	Troubled Waters	earthobservatory	2021-09-25	US
3471	Ученые проанализировали уровни концентрации плутония в Енисее	RG	2021-09-28	RU
3472	Salmon Snagging is Legal In Alaska	fishncanada	2021-09-26	CA
3473	A new $350 million Bering Sea fish fight could hinge on a miniature Canadian railroad	Alaska Public Media	2021-09-05	CA
3474	Indigenous chiefs in N.B. say Fisheries Department officers ignoring fishing rights	ctvnews	2021-09-02	CA
3475	Fangs, beady eyes and slime: Massachusetts angler hauls in rare invasive fish in Canton	wcvb	2021-09-01	US

138 of [223 - pages.]