President Vladimir Putin visits BIOS center for sturgeon breeding and research in Astrakhan, Russia.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Black Caviar Called Govt’s Property
Russia’s State Committee of Fishery (Goskomrybolovstvo) has elaborated a bill to introduce the frame monopoly on the catch, processing and sale of sturgeons. The document calls the RF the owner of sturgeons and transfers the right for any operation with sturgeons and black caviar to the federal bodies. The path of the bill won’t be smooth, Goskomrybolovstvo apprehends, intending to submit it to the government March 27.
One of the program tasks voiced by Goskomrybolovstvo chief Andrei Krainy, i.e. introducing the state monopoly on the catch, processing and sale of sturgeons, has been finally shaped as a bill. Krainy’s subordinates elaborated the document, which is to be submitted to the government March 27. The copy of the document has been forwarded to other departments for agreement.
Under the bill, all natural population of sturgeons in the exclusive economic area and inland waters is deemed the federal ownership, while the sturgeon population in the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov is governed by the international agreements. The artificially bred sturgeons could be in the regional, municipal or private property. As the monopolist, the state determines the size of the catch, distributes the quotas, controls the production and turnover of sturgeons both of the natural and artificially-bred population.
Since the first days in service, Krainy has been expressing his indignation about the size of the legal production - no more than 7 tons to 9 tons of black caviar. The global market of this gourmet product is estimated at 350 tons and its wholesale price in Europe stands at ˆ6,000 per a kilogram. In 1981 to 1985, the sturgeon catch was 23,600 tons in the Caspian Sea and 900 tons in the Sea of Azov. Nowadays, however, the poaching capture exceeds the legal one by dozens of times.
The bill of Goskomrybolovstvo spells out the actions to preserve the sturgeons and their environmental conditions. In view of them, Goskomrybolovstvo sets restrictions on some types of business activities, including the ban on geological exploration and production of mineral resources, construction of oil and gas pipelines, rafting, and water drawoff for enterprises.
The vendors of the sturgeons support the bill. “The state monopoly should be introduced and the catch of the sturgeons banned for the following 50 years to restore the population,” said Roman Lavrov, deputy chief of the sales department at Severnaya Co. Other market players don’t think this action sufficient, claiming that the bureaucrats patronize poachers, so the sale of surgeons should be completely banned for a while.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 26, 2008
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