Wednesday May 25, 2022
Courthouse News Service —
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list four different endangered species of sturgeon native to Europe and Asia in a document slated to be published to the federal register on Wednesday.
The Russian sturgeon, the ship sturgeon, the Persian sturgeon and the stellate sturgeon are proposed to be added to the endangered species list, with all four species being native to the Black and Caspian Sea region.
The four subspecies referred to together as the Ponto-Caspian sturgeon, prowl the rivers of the Black, Caspian, Azov and Aral sea basins, where they are hunted not so much for their meat as for caviar.
The federal agency routinely lists species endemic to other countries to restrict commercial use of products related to the harvest of that animal. In this case, it will allow fish and wildlife officials to restrict the import of caviar derived from the four subspecies of sturgeon.