Sturgeon are not charismatic animals. They don't have the winsome appeal of great apes, or pandas, koalas, or tigers, they lack the majesty of elephants, rhinos and whales. Nevertheless, they need a hero movement to ensure their continuation in this world. Until that movement begins and grows to another multi-million dollar epic campaign, we shall all depend on the game wardens and customs officials to do their jobs. So far, these people are doing their best to save the sturgeon from those who illegally buy and sell the meat and the roe, in what has become a $125 million/year poaching scandal.

IWMC congratulates outdoors writer Tom Stienstra, of the San Francisco Chronicle, for his October 19 piece on a sturgeon poaching scam that was uncovered by Lt. Kathy Ponting, California Department of Fish and Game field supervisor for the case. Lt. Ponting worked with sport fishermen informants and fellow officers for over nine months to uncover this vast sturgeon poaching ring in the San Francisco Bay area.

Yuriy and Tamara Bugriyev, Russian immigrants to Sacramento County, ended up being charged with buying and selling sturgeon meat and roe. They were eventually captured and will be jailed because alert sport fishermen gave the Fish and Game authorities information on their vehicle, their description, and finally, their phone number and residential address. Twenty other people were also arrested in the undercover sting. Forty-three state game wardens and three US Fish & Wildlife agents all worked together over the duration of the investigation. It is unfortunate that the community of Russian immigrants in the northern California and Oregon area is so eager to buy these products, and that there are enough risk takers to supply them. The Bugriyevs had been doing this for four years when they were caught. Russian people believe that sturgeon roe is "good for the blood", a cultural belief that illustrates their vulnerability to the illegal dealings of their fellows. In much of Russia and Poland, access to sturgeon is easier and in some areas, legal.

In a similar but smaller case, Polish Airline flight crew member Malgortzata Maria Zabierzowska was arrested when she attempted to smuggle eight thousand dollars worth of illegally procured Russian sturgeon caviar into Canada. She pled guilty in an Ontario court and was sentenced to 13 days in prison for transporting the 4-kg of caviar. Her charge was violation of section 6 (2) of the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act. Sturgeon are protected under CITES Appendix II, and a re-export certificate from Poland, based on a Russian export permit, would have been required for the transport to have been legal. While the legal sturgeon caviar trade amounts to around $100 million a year, the illegal trade still occurs and must be forcefully fought.

IWMC congratulates all those who conduct strictly legal trade in wildlife products and who do not succumb to the temptations of illegal profiteering. We applaud all those law enforcement officials and their informants who continually apprehend the violators of national and international fish and wildlife law. May they always be alert, and may their rewards for the job well done continue to be public recognition and support as they work for genuine wildlife conservation.