Eighty-five percent of sturgeon species, collectively one of the oldest families of fishes in existence, and valued around the world for their precious roe, are at risk of extinction, making them the most threatened group of animals, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has said.
The IUCN said that 18 species of sturgeon, from all over Europe and Asia, are threatened, and 27 species of sturgeon are on the IUCN Red List with 63 percent listed as "critically endangered" – the Red List's most threatened category.
"Four species are now possibly extinct," said the IUCN. "Beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea is listed as critically endangered for the first time along with all of the other commercially important Caspian Sea species, which are the main producers of wild caviar.
"Beluga sturgeon populations have been decimated in part due to unrelenting exploitation for black caviar the sturgeon's unfertilised eggs considered the finest in the world. The other species, Russian, stellate, Persian and ship sturgeon have also suffered declines due to overfishing as well as habitat degradation in the Caspian Sea region," said the IUCN.
"It's time to seriously consider ending fishing in the Caspian Sea region and in other areas where species are classified as critically endangered," suggested a member of the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group and Senior Research Scientist Dr. Phaedra Doukakis at the Institute foe Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University.
The IUCN said the widespread evidence of decline alerts us to the fact that despite protective fishing regulations, sturgeon are still in trouble due to historic fishing, current illegal fishing and habitat degradation.
Sturgeon can live for up to 100 years and do not reproduce annually, which means they take many years to recover from any population declines.
Raphael Mweninguwe
