The world’s wildlife police are closer than ever to banning international trade in caviar from the Caspian Sea.
This week officials at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) denied reports that they had imposed a ban preventing the 2004 harvest of caviar entering shops. But they said there was still no agreement with countries round the Caspian Sea on fishing quotas that would protect the species that provide the fish roe, including the highly prized beluga sturgeon, whose numbers have fallen by 90 per cent in the past 20 years. And without an agreed quota the…
