Less Good Stuff to Spend That Tax Cut On
2003-09-24
Caviar may soon cease to exist, because the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) miscounted the number of wild sturgeon, leading to continued overfishing. Will the rich be happy about their tax cut if they can’t spend some of it on caviar?
Fred Pearce writes in New Scientist that CITES stated that beluga sturgeon numbers are on the increase, reaching 11.6 million in 2002, up from 9.3 million in 2001 and 7.6 million in 1998. Based on these estimates, it’s allowed Russia, Iran and other countries bordering the Caspian Sea to harvest up to 155 tons of beluga sturgeon and export up to nine tons of caviar.
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