Sturgeon have been around for over 80 million years.  Sturgeon are found only in the northern hemisphere. Sturgeon live most of their lives in brackish or salt water, but like salmon, return to fresh water for spawning. Unlike salmon, sturgeon can spawn multiple times throughout their lives. Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old.

The most known sturgeon is the large Beluga sturgeon (Huso huso), giving us Beluga caviar and found in the Caspian Sea.. Beluga sturgeon is the largest fish found in fresh water with the largest one recorded weighing in at 4,350 pounds. Also found in the Caspian Sea and of caviar importance is the Russian sturgeon (Osetra caviar) and the Stellate sturgeon (Sevruga caviar). Both these species are much smaller than the Beluga but produce a fine quality caviar.

At one time there were several sturgeon species of great abundance in and around western Europe, but lately very few species remain and the populations are so depleted there is little to no fishery for them. An act of King Edward II made the sturgeon a "royal fish," and a law decreed that every sturgeon caught belonged to the imperial treasury and must be offered to the monarch.

There are several sturgeon species in North America. In the Missouri and Mississippi River watershed we have the Pallid sturgeon (now an endangered species) and the Shovelnose sturgeon (also know as the hackleback).  In the northern lakes there is the Lake sturgeon. On the East Coast is the Atlantic sturgeon and on the West Coast we have the Green sturgeon and the White sturgeon. An Algonquin Indian legend claims that the monster which swallowed Hiawatha was a giant sturgeon.

Sturgeon are also found in Asia. According to the Chinese, the sturgeon is a symbol of literary eminence and scholarly achievement. The Chinese believed that sturgeon one day became dragons.

Who knows when sturgeon roe was first salted and eaten as "caviar". Maybe some cave man wanted to impress his mate on Valentine's Day. The first written record of caviar was from Batu Khan (grandson of Ghengis Khan) in the 1240's. The caviar industry started in Eurasia and around the Mediterranean. Sturgeon roe was heavily salted and packed in wooden casks. The heavy salt allowed extended shelf life. Caviar did not become worldly until the latter part of the 1800's when the French started importing the delicacy from Russia. If the Czar ate caviar then it must be the posh thing to do. Molossol, or lightly salted caviar which we generally eat today, was not available until chilled transportation was developed.

Near the end of the 1800's Atlantic sturgeon on the East Coast and White sturgeon on the West Coast of North America were discovered to have a roe quality comparable to that from Russian sturgeons. During that time these two species were commercially harvested in such vigor that the resource was all but destroyed. There was so much caviar being produced here at that time that bars would serve the salty delicacy to encourage more beer drinking as popcorn and peanuts are served today. At the turn of the 19th century there was more caviar going to Europe from North America than from Russia. By 1915 there were so few White sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon left that all fisheries were closed to both sport and commercial use. It was only in the late 1950's that a sport fishery was allowed on the West Coast for White sturgeon.

Currently most of the world's caviar comes from the Caspian Sea. Small amounts are produced from sturgeon in the Amur River between Russia and China. Both areas are experiencing rapid declines in sturgeon population from development of dams cutting off the rivers as spawning grounds, industrial and agricultural pollution, and rampant poaching.

Before the Soviet Union broke up the Russian government held strict control on sturgeon harvest limits and caviar production. The loss of spawning grounds prompted the development of sturgeon hatcheries on the Caspian to support the populations. Mature male and female sturgeon were caught from the wild and spawned in the hatchery to produce fingerlings for release. (All Beluga caviar and most of the Osetra and Sevruga caviar now comes from fish that were released from the hatcheries) But, it is being seen that most of the eggs in mature female sturgeon from the Caspian are non-fertile due to genetic malformation from the high pollution levels. With the breakup of the Soviet Union the strict controls on sturgeon harvest and caviar production has been diminished. The new free states found that caviar sales was a rapid way to generate cash. The Russians no longer have strong enforcement of the region so poaching is going uncontrolled and the Caviar Mafia has taken over much of the processing and distribution of the resulting caviar.

Iran has been able to maintain a close control of the caviar industry on the southern end of the Caspian. Iran produces a very high quality product, but pollution does effect their resource as well.

Sterling Caviar LLC was one of the first complete sturgeon aquaculture operations in the world. The Russians learned to spawn sturgeon back in the 1950's's but never took the fish past the fingerling stage. Through our efforts we are now able to bring to the world a true, premium caviar that rivals what comes from the Caspian without affecting the wild resource. We are proud to be able to offer the caviar consumer a premium caviar as an alternative to product produced from a threatened resource.

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