More action needed to save sturgeon

Russian experts have warned that sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea should be banned for twenty years if the fish which produce caviar are to be saved.

Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have imposed a ban on sturgeon fishing in the sea until the end of the year.

But the head of Russia's Caspian fisheries institute says that, at the current rate of poaching, stocks of the most valuable sturgeon which produce black caviar will be wiped out in ten years.

Experts estimate that poachers catch more than ten times the legal sturgeon catch in the Caspian.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service