Demand for caviar may mean trouble for Missouri sturgeon

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The world's hunger for caviar is threatening the existence of the shovelnose and pallid sturgeons that roam the bottom of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

A federal ban placed last month on imports of caviar from the beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea has ignited an already strong demand for eggs from the shovelnose sturgeon.

Scientists say that demand poses a growing danger for the shovelnose's cousin, the pallid sturgeon, which is already an endangered species. It looks and reproduces much like the shovelnose, and gets caught in the same nets.

"The stakes have gotten pretty high," said Edward Grace, a special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

On much of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, commercial and recreational fishermen can legally take the shovelnose sturgeon but are expected to throw back any pallid sturgeons they catch.

Experienced commercial fishermen insist it is easy to tell the two types of sturgeon apart.

But amateurs might not sort out the species so easily. And the pallid sturgeon can grow much larger, meaning a female with a bellyful of eggs can net a fisherman a quick $200.

"The only way to catch somebody is probably through undercover operations," said Jim Milligan, a biologist involved in endangered species restoration for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Columbia. "That can take two or three years with no guarantee."

Until the ban, the United States imported 80 percent of the world's beluga caviar, most of which came from the Caspian Sea. Now, suppliers are looking elsewhere.

One response has been a small industry of farm-raised sturgeon and paddlefish. Osage Catfisheries in south central Missouri years ago began raising paddlefish for their roe. Now, the company ships L'Osage Caviar worldwide.

But it can take eight to nine years for a paddlefish, and nearly as long for most sturgeon, to grow old enough to produce eggs.

A much quicker investment is to buy a $25 Missouri commercial fisherman's license to go after the sturgeon that swim in the rivers.