2012. Review of Significant Trade - Cites

Huso huso
Kottelat et al., 2009). The last wild population in the Black Sea was reported to migrate up
the Danube River (Kottelat et al., 2009), where it was still reproducing in the lower Danube
(Vecsei et al., 2002; Kottelat and Freyhof, 2007); however, stocks were feared to be under
threat of collapse due to overharvest (Bloesch et al., 2005).
The species is believed to be extinct in the Adriatic Sea, while populations in the Sea of Azov
are believed to consist entirely of hatchery-raised fish (Birstein et al., 1997; TRAFFIC
International et al., 2000; Billard and Lecointre, 2001; Graham and Murphy, 2007;
Kottelat et al., 2009). In the Caspian Basin, both the number of spawning individuals and
catches of H. huso have declined dramatically (Khodorevskaya et al., 1997; 2007; Ivanov et al.,
1999; Pikitch et al., 2005; Ludwig, 2008), with more than 90 per cent of the Caspian Sea stock
reported to originate from hatcheries (Kottelat et al., 2009). The last wild population in the
Caspian Basin was reported to migrate up the Ural River, with the Volga population
dependent on restocking (Kottelat and Freyhof, 2007, Kottelat et al., 2009).
H. huso was categorised as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List, due to the estimated
decline in the wild native population of over 90 per cent over the past three generations, due
to overfishing and loss of spawning sites due to dams (Kottelat et al., 2009). It was reported
that “overfishing for meat and caviar will soon cause global extinction of the remaining
natural wild populations”, with survival in the immediate future dependent on stocking and
fisheries management as well as combating illegal fishing (Kottelat et al., 2009).
While populations of all Eurasian sturgeons have declined, the situation was reported to be
most critical for H. huso (Ludwig, 2008). The total abundance estimates decreased from
21.3 million individuals in the late 1980s to 8.9 million individuals in 1994 (Pal'gui, 1992;
Khodorevskaya et al., 2000a; 2000b; 2000c; 2000d; 2001a; 2001b) to 11.6 million individuals in
2002 (Khodorevskaya et al., 2009).
Pikitch et al. (2005) cautioned that although the abundance estimates calculated by range
States in compliance with CITES suggest large population sizes and increasing abundance,
“alternative calculations indicate dangerously small populations of beluga and harvest
quotas equivalent to removal of nearly all mature individuals (Pikitch and Lauck
unpublished data, cited in Ginsberg, 2002).”
H. huso was reported to be threatened by overfishing, poaching, loss of spawning habitats
due to dam construction, and pollution (Billard and Lecointre, 2001; Vecsei et al., 2002;
Carocci, 2004; Graham and Murphy, 2007; Khodorevskaya et al., 2009; Kottelat et al., 2009).
Life-history characteristics, such as late maturation, were thought to make the species
particularly sensitive to overfishing (Graham and Murphy, 2007).
Overview of trade and management in the species: Huso huso was listed in CITES
Appendix II on 01/04/1998. Trade from selected range States 2000-2010 consisted
principally of caviar and meat, with small quantities of live animals, skins, swim bladders,
live eggs, specimens and bodies also traded. The vast majority of trade was wild-sourced
and for commercial purposes. The main range States involved in trade were Iran and
Kazakhstan, with smaller quantities originating in the Russian Federation, Bulgaria,
Azerbaijan, Hungary and Serbia and Montenegro.
Resolution Conf. 12.7 (Rev. CoP14) on Conservation of and trade in sturgeons and paddlefish
requires that range States establish export quotas for caviar and meat of Acipenseriformes
from shared stocks (starting from 1 March and ending on the last day of February the
following year), derived from catch quotas based on an appropriate regional conservation
strategy and monitoring regime, that is not detrimental to the survival of the species’ in the
wild. In 2011, no export quotas for wild-sourced sturgeon products were communicated to
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