From the Guardian – Ban on trade in wild caviar as sturgeon stocks plunge
Chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the growing involvement of the Russian mafia and pollution, have been blamed for a massive rise in poaching and a precipitous decline in stocks. Numbers in the Caspian Sea are thought to have fallen 90% in 30 years and slightly less in the Black Sea and major rivers. The fish are also found in smaller quantities in Bulgaria, China, Iran, Romania and North America.
I blame Reagan. Without glasnost this never would have happened!
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6 Comments
1. WichitaBoy:Chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union
Order is good, change baaad.
The Guardian is de facto the new voice of conservatism. Keep things the same, at all costs!
Jan 3, 2006 - 9:15 pm 2. Sandy P:I always thought I was on the side of the Vorlons, but I have to say I can now appreciate more the Shadows’ thinking.
Still glad Sheridan blew up Z’Ha’Dum tho.
Jan 3, 2006 - 9:51 pm 3. Yehudit:“The fish are also found in smaller quantities in Bulgaria, China, Iran, Romania and North America.”
I don’t see how the Russian mafia responsible for that, but given the cost of caviar, poaching must be tempting anywhere.
Jan 3, 2006 - 10:20 pm 4. Anthony (Los Angeles):Fish eggs — blech!
I’m all for the ban, just on gorunds of good taste.
Jan 4, 2006 - 9:22 am 5. triticale:Any time stocks plunge this drastically, there needs to be an investigation of possible short selling and insider trading.
/oh never mind…
Jan 4, 2006 - 10:31 am 6. AlanC:This is more than a trifle hilarious in a black humor kind of way.
33 years ago I wrote my senior thesis in Political Science on the effects of Marxian economics on ecology (okay you can stop laughing now). Without going into the boring details, let’s just say that Marx sucked for ecology.
My professor, a Russian escapee, translated many Russian articles for me (Pravda, Izvestia and a handful of local rags).
It all came down to the Marxist concept of a “free-good”. Everything only has value according to the human labor component. As a result, resource extraction was hugely wasteful and all the “crap” was dumped in the nearest stream or river. This so polluted the sturgeon spawning grounds that the yield for caviar was around 20% in 196? of the Tzarist time.
What goes around, comes around.
Oh, and for Markus and his brethern, capitalism makes much better use of resources because there is a cost associated with them so we, in general, squeeze out as much good stuff from a given quantity as possible.
Jan 5, 2006 - 7:41 am