Caviar dreams. (North America).As the caviar industry in the Caspian Sea Caspian Sea (kăs`pēən), Lat. Mare Caspium or Mare Hyrcanium, salt lake, c.144,000 sq mi (373,000 sq km), between Europe and Asia; the largest lake in the world. faces possible collapse, new sources for the luxury item, such as North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. waters, are quickly becoming alternatives, and environmental groups are just as quickly showing concern. "Caviar and Conservation," a paper published by TRAFFIC--the wildlife trade monitoring network of World Wildlife Fund and IUCN--The World Conservation Union, reports that demand for caviar far outstrips what North American wild stocks and commercial aquaculture aquaculture, the raising and harvesting of fresh- and saltwater plants and animals. The most economically important form of aquaculture is fish farming, an industry that accounts for an ever increasing share of world fisheries production. are currently able to produce. North American sturgeon sturgeon, primitive fish of the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Unlike evolutionarily advanced fishes, it has a fine-grained hide, with very reduced scalation, a mostly cartilaginous skeleton, upturned tail fins, and a mouth set well back on the and paddlefish paddlefish, large freshwater fish, Polyodon spathula, of the Mississippi valley, also called spoonbill or duckbill and named for its flattened, paddle-shaped snout. The largest specimens weigh well over 150 lb (67.5 kg) and reach 6 ft (183 cm) in length. , two of the most sought-after producers of caviar, have not seen their populations fully recover the turn of the last century, when the United States was a major supplier of the global caviar trade. Relating that laws need to catch up with the demand for the resource, Craig Hoover, deputy director of TRAFFIC says, "North American caviar can be a profitable industry, but only if states with healthy paddle-fish and sturgeon populations manage the resource carefully. There are still some serious regulatory gaps that need to be filled and urgent action is needed to ensure that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past." www.worldwildlife.org, May 22 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion