The Economic Naturalist by Robert H. Frank

Author:Robert H. Frank
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2018-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Why did the fall of the former Soviet Union spell gloom for aficionados of Caspian Sea caviar? (Thomas Gellert)

For gourmets around the globe, there is no greater delicacy than caviar from the Caspian Sea. The rarest and most precious variety comes from the Beluga sturgeon, which can grow up to 30 feet long, weigh as much as 1,800 pounds, and live as long as 100 years. Beluga caviar has long been expensive but readily available. Since the dissolution of the former Soviet Union in 1989, however, supplies have plummeted, and its price has escalated sharply. What went wrong?

The Caspian Sea is now surrounded by Iran and four independent nations that were once part of the Soviet Union: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Before 1989, the powerful central governments of Iran and the Soviet Union tightly regulated commercial activity in the Caspian Sea. They kept the tragedy of the commons under control by prohibiting the harvest of smaller sturgeon. When the Soviet Union’s demise left central governments unable to maintain strict regulatory control, sturgeon fishermen realized that restraint was no longer economically viable. Any sturgeon they left behind would simply have been harvested by others.

Russia and Iran have again begun cooperating in an effort to curb pollution and overfishing in the Caspian Sea. In the meantime, however, buyers can expect to continue paying more than $160 an ounce for Beluga caviar.

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