Break for Beluga

doi:10.1126/science.298.5596.1153b

Account Information

Guest Alerts | Access Rights | My Account | Sign In

Site Navigation

Article Views

Summary
Full Text (PDF)

Article Tools

My Science

More Information

Related Jobs from ScienceCareers

Science 8 November 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5596, p. 1153
DOI: 10.1126/science.298.5596.1153b

Prev | Table of Contents | Next

ScienceScope

There's fresh hope for the world's largest freshwater fish. Last month, the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora banned the five nations bordering the Caspian Sea from exporting the meat or caviar of the beluga sturgeon for the rest of 2002. Conservationists criticized the body for lifting a similar ban earlier this year (Science, 22 March, p. 2191). Its latest decision came after Caspian states failed to present a coherent picture of sturgeon stocks and how the fish can be harvested sustainably. The states are now scrambling to make a case for 2003 quotas.

Moves are afoot to protect the beluga indefinitely. Last July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed listing the beluga as an endangered species, which would end the legal import of beluga products into the United States, the biggest consumer. More than 50 scientists backed the move in a 28 October letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton. FWS has up to a year to decide but is under pressure to make an emergency ruling before the spring harvest.