THE THREAT
Sturgeon existed on ourplanet before the dinosaurs and can live to be over 100 years old. Overfishing, mainly due to poaching and habitat loss, has dramatically reduced the global population in the last 30 years.
All 27 sturgeon species have been protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Washington Treaty) since 1998. The wild populations of many sturgeon species are expected to disappear within a few years. In most nations today, legally traded caviar can only be produced in sturgeon aquaculture.
It takes about eight to ten years for a sturgeon female to carry eggs for the first time in her life. From this age onwards, the females are still slaughtered for caviar harvesting in aquaculture.
For CLASSY CAVIAR the sturgeons have to be alive.
OUR STURGEON
The sturgeon live in a remote pond landscape on the fish farms of our partner Peter Gross in Germany. Our licensees are distributed worldwide and offer optimal conditions for the upbringing of sturgeon and caviar production from live sturgeon. The sturgeon are raised and cared for from the egg to the adults. At the age of eight to ten years they give eggs for the first time in their life. Some species such as the beluga sturgeon need up to 26 years in the wild until first fertility and in aquaculture around 16 year at optimal conditions until the first egg harvest.
THE HARVEST
The sturgeon for our caviar are carefully selected by ultrasound analysis of egg maturation. After a natural winter season they are persuaded with a spring message of light and warmth to release their eggs. By gently massaging the belly, the mature and beautiful eggs fall into the steel bowl.
WWF
www.wwf.at/artikel/stoere-eine-zukunft-fuer-die-riesen-der-donau/
Kaviarbetrug – Tagesspiegel 21.11.2023
WSCS World Sturgeon Conservation Society