Endangered sturgeons, CITES labelling & seafood traceability

Endangered sturgeons, CITES labelling and seafood traceability to be presented at the world’s largest seafood trade event

Brussels – WWF will discuss with leading seafood sellers and buyers the importance of compulsory CITES labelling for caviar, fishing vessel and seafood tracking, and the state of endangered species like sturgeons. This will happen at the world’s largest seafood trade event, the Seafood Expo Global, which is in Brussels on 21-23 April 2015.

Some 26,000 buyers, suppliers, media and other seafood professionals from 150 countries attended the fair in 2014. More than 80% of attending companies say they are involved in or influence purchasing decisions.

Visitors to the expo will learn how to distinguish legal from illegal caviar through labelling imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES labelling is mandatory for any caviar in trade, and particularly important for the survival of sturgeons.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), sturgeons are more critically endangered than any other group of species worldwide -- mostly due to overfishing and illegal caviar trade. In Europe, their last viable wild populations are in the Lower Danube.

WWF will also talk to companies about WWF’s Smart Fishing Initiative, which covers species besides sturgeon. The team will present a new vessel tracking tool and data sharing platform that can be used by fisheries worldwide to make their fishing transparent. Fisheries can register on the Transparent Sea site www.transparentsea.org to show their customers they are committed to legal and responsible fishing.

The team will also provide information on EU regulation on unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), as well asthe traceability of seafood products and measures to improve the management of commercially important fish like Alaska Pollock and hake.

For more information, please visit danube-sturgeons.org and panda.org/smartfishing or the WWF team at this year’s Seafood Expo Global, hall 11, booth 2170.

WWF in coalition with other NGOs is also taking part in the debate “EU markets driving good governance in fisheries” hosted by the European Commission (21 April, from 14h30 to 15h30, hall 7 booth 1411).

More on sturgeons and illegal caviar trade

Europe's last viable wild sturgeon populations live in the Danube River section shared by Romania and Bulgaria. They are on the brink of extinction due overfishing for caviar.

According to the report "Illegal caviar trade in Bulgaria and Romania" conducted by WWF and TRAFFIC, Romania and Bulgaria are still fishing for wild sturgeon despite the fact that a complete fishing ban is still in place in the countries -- until the end of 2015. The ban also forbids the sale of products, like meat and caviar, from wild caught Danube sturgeons. Sturgeons are also subject to various international protection regulations.

The study was based on 30 samples of caviar from Bulgaria and Romania collected from shops, restaurants, markets, street vendors and sturgeon farms. After the DNA analysis, 4 of 5 samples reported by vendors to come from wild sturgeon (and being therefore illegal) proved to be from beluga (Huso huso) -- a species threatened with extinction.

Since 1998, all sturgeon species have been protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This means that sturgeons and their products in international trade must be accompanied by CITES documents and all caviar must bear CITES labels with a CITES code.

However, the report’s findings indicated that CITES labelling rules are not fully respected. Correct labels are often missing or indicate contents different from the actual ones.

To contribute to sturgeon conservation, in 2012 WWF launched the LIFE+ project “Sturgeons. Protect Danube’s Treasure,” (http://danube-sturgeons.org) which is now in its last year.

The LIFE+ project also included a national telephone survey to test the general public’s knowledge of sturgeon and caviar. Most Romanian respondents know that sturgeon species are protected, but 87% do not know the difference between legal and illegal caviar.

“WWF’s LIFE+ project works to promote CITES labelling to retailers and consumers, which is a legal requirement in domestic and international trade and essential for the sustainable use of caviar. We were glad to see during the Seafood Expo in 2013 that some companies very actively explain to their customers how to distinguish legal from illegal caviar through these labels and the universal CITES code for caviar,” said Jutta Jahrl, the project manager.

For those who want to enjoy sturgeon meat products or caviar, there is an alternative: CITES compliant aquaculture products. If they operate according to nature conservation principles, sturgeon farms, a part of aquaculture continuously expanding worldwide, can have a positive effect on the evolution of wild sturgeon stocks, as well as on local economies.

ENDS

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