2012. Review of Significant Trade - Cites

Huso huso
permit date available).
Indirect trade in H. huso originating in Kazakhstan 2000-2010 consisted exclusively of caviar,
the vast majority was wild-sourced, and virtually all was for commercial purposes.
According to data in the Caviar Database, a total of 2438.0 kg of wild-sourced H. huso caviar
originating in Kazakhstan was re-exported for commercial purposes between 2004 and 2010.
Statistics from the FAO fisheries department (FAO, 2011b) indicated the H. huso capture
production from Kazakhstan between 2002 and 2009 totalled 281 tonnes (Table 25).
Management: Kazakhstan was reported to have put in place a total ban on sturgeon fishing
in 2010 (Anonymous, 2010, cited in Sharov, 2011; M. Pourkazemi, pers. comm. to UNEP-
WCMC, 2011).
The most important fisheries laws are the Law on Protection, Recovery and Use of Wild Life
and the Law on Specially Protected Natural Areas (FAO, 2009). The ‘Ministerial Decree #493
of 29 April 2004, Regulating trade of caviar of sturgeons species manufactured in the
Republic of Kazakhstan’, was reported to have been issued to control trade of sturgeon
caviar and prevent its illegal turnover (FAO, 2009).
There are two fishing seasons, one during spring spawning and the other during winter
migration. Fishing gear, the number of nets set, and size of fish harvested are regulated and
a fishing license is required. Fishing grounds are limited to twelve on the Ural River and
eight on the Kigach River. The purchase price at the landing site was based on a fixed legal
rate of caviar weight extracted per female; H. huso was set at 19.4per cent of the total body
weight (TRAFFIC International et al., 2000). During spawning migration, patrols are
undertaken in the Ural-Caspian to curtail poaching and protect valuable species (FAO,
2009). During 2008 inspections, more than 3500 cases of fisheries violations (not limited to H.
huso) were detected; 2475 kg of sturgeon and 6.5 kg of caviar were seized (FAO, 2009).
In a recent analysis in the Ural River, Doukakis et al. (2010) advised that harvest rates were
4-5 times higher than rates needed to sustain population abundance. They noted that the
fishery was dominated by first-time spawners, and recommended that yield would be
maximised by raising minimum size limits and reducing illegal take of subadults.
Two hatcheries, Uralo-Atyrau and Atyurau, were reported to have been operational since
1998, with annual release of H. huso rising from 300 000 to over 2 million fingerlings per year
between 1998 and 2002 (CITES Secretariat, 2003). A total of approximately 13.2 million
H. huso fingerlings were reported to have been produced at the Atyrau hatchery during the
period 1998-2009 (Thorpe et al., 2010).
82