Black market caviar tempts poachers

COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE - Giant sturgeon have been so over fished overseas for their coveted black eggs that pressure is now mounting on Columbia River sturgeon.

Poachers here are trying to fill the demand for premium caviar and they are using the Columbia River as their hunting ground.

"It's going for $100 or more on the black market," said Lt. Jeff Samuels with the Oregon State Police.

It's not the small sturgeon that the poachers are after, but the oversized ones. You see, only older fish produce eggs.

"We're trying to save a dinosaur," said Mike Cenci, Chief Deputy with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "This is something that has survived evolution and yet a few bad guys are going to jeopardize that survival. They're going to bring this species to the brink because of poaching."

What's happening on the Columbia River is tied to what's happening in the Caspian Sea, where Russian authorities are fighting a violent battle against poachers. Beluga sturgeon from the Caspian Sea are the traditional source of premium caviar but the fish have been so decimated there that the United States has banned imports of the delicacy.

But police say that makes it tempting for poachers to tap into the Columbia River's sturgeon population. And they say poachers will often cut up the meat to conceal the fact that they caught an oversized fish.

"It's very hard (to catch them)," said Chief Deputy Cenci. "Law enforcement has to use a number of techniques to catch them and that doesn't mean running overtly around in a uniform and a marked patrol vehicle."

Wildlife officers say they recently lost funding from the Bonneville Power Administration to do patrols and with budget cuts, it has become tougher for them to go after poachers.

"If those fish aren't protected then this kind of prehistoric fish that's living in the Columbia River is not going to continue to exist," said Lt. Samuels.

According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, there are about a half million sturgeon above the Bonneville, Dalles and John Day dams. That may sound like a lot but they estimate there are only about 2,600 of the fish that are old enough to breed.