A Caveat on Caviar

What’s the danger with farming sturgeon in Louisiana?

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Caviar has been praised by gourmands since Aristotle. Sometimes costing hundreds of dollars per ounce, it has been the preferred food of the glamorous and rich for centuries. Though originally “true” caviar was harvested from only Russian wild sturgeon in the Caspian and Black Seas (the famous Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga caviars), demand mainly in Europe and Canada, almost drove the Russian sturgeon population into extinction. As a consequence, fishermen began to harvest roe from salmon, steelhead, trout, lumpfish, whitefish, and other species of sturgeon—allowing the United States to briefly corner the market in this salty, elegant treat.

In the early twentieth century, the United States supplied much of the world’s caviar, with roe harvested from lake (or rock) sturgeon in the Mississippi River in the Midwest and from shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon in rivers on the Eastern seaboard; green sturgeon were fished from the Columbia River on the west coast. American caviar was so plentiful (and salty) back then, it was given away at bars to induce thirst in patrons and encourage drinking. In the 1900s, American sturgeon populations could meet the insatiable appetite for caviar. Predictably, these same fish species became overharvested, and the caviar supply plummeted, leading fancy diners and their suppliers to consider other fish as potential sources for roe.  

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Since the U.S. has had a historic role in harvesting and exporting caviar, it came as no surprise earlier this year when the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) sought legislative permission to farm sturgeon in Louisiana. Controversially, LWFC wanted to farm a non-native species, the Russian or sterlet sturgeon, for caviar. This fish is currently banned in Louisiana due to concerns about the environmental damage if these sterlet sturgeon escaped into native waters. Given these concerns, the LWFC also explored farming or aquaculture of the shovelnose sturgeon, the smallest of the sturgeon family and a native to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

A local company, Ledet’s Seafood, petitioned the state to allow them to import the sterlet sturgeon so they could open a 35,000 square-foot facility in Natchitoches Parish. The seafood operation said they had taken steps to keep the fish in the aquarium and out of the ecosystem, as required by LWFC. Environmental groups such as Louisiana Wildlife Federation and the Louisiana chapter of the American Fisheries Society spoke against importing and farming the sterlet sturgeon, fearful the fish would escape and run wild like the Asian Carp have. Even so, the LWFC sought approval from the Louisiana House and Senate, but Governor John Bel Edwards struck the proposal down.

LWFC has “control and supervision of the wildlife of the state, including all aquatic life,” which includes non-native species. The commission was created with the “mission of providing for the protection of the state’s birds, fish, shellfish, wild quadrupeds, forestry and mineral resources.” While the LWFC promoted sterlet farming in Louisiana to create economic opportunities, citing caviar production as a boon to the seafood industry, this interest may conflict with their protective duties.

American caviar was so plentiful (and salty) back then, it was given away at bars to induce thirst in patrons and encourage drinking.

The farming of the shovelnose sturgeon in ponds in Louisiana has not been approved by the time this article went to press; however, a biologist at Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries (LWF) confided that they generally are in favor of aquaculture.  LWF does not see harm occurring to local fisheries if the shovelnose sturgeon escaped because it is a native species, even though the fish are from a different area and the equivalent of a different “breed” of the species. 

However, problems could occur if local fishermen attempted to harvest caviar from naturally occurring shovelnose species and confuse them with the pallid sturgeon, also native to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Both sturgeon species look similar to each other when young, and correctly identifying a pallid vs. a shovelnose sturgeon is difficult even for trained biologists looking at one up close in a net. The pallid sturgeon was listed as endangered in 1990 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Pallid sturgeon date back to the dinosaur era and take fifteen years to become mature, spawn infrequently, and can live to be fifty years old, reaching six feet long and weighing over eighty pounds.

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Methods for harvesting caviar have been criticized by PETA. In the past, when sturgeon were plentiful in the wild, the mature female fish (at least eight to ten years old) essentially became death row material when she was ready to migrate upstream to lay her eggs. Taken from the sea, the sturgeon was split open while alive and the eggs scooped out. Now, the fish is bumped on the head to knock it out, then slit open and the eggs are removed, cleaned and packaged.  The rest of the fish is sold for processing. A kinder method is possible, though: aquaculture in Germany and Russia uses a caviar C-section to produce no-kill caviar. They promote their method as “cruelty-free” or “correct” caviar and preserve the life of the sturgeon while harvesting the eggs. 

Ironically, the U.S. does have a domestic source of Russian caviar: North Carolina. With two facilities in the state, Marshallberg Farm produces caviar from Russian, Siberian, and Atlantic sturgeon through local aquaculture—with only a touch of sea salt added to the roe. 

Governor John Edwards could resurrect the prospect of Russian caviar farming in Louisiana, but at this point the issue is as muddy as the Mississippi River. The debutantes may be suffering, but for now, American sturgeon will see a reprieve.