Wildlife officials in California say they have busted caviar traffickers as part of a crackdown on sturgeon and salmon poaching along the Sacramento River. "Well-organized criminal networks were observed employing advanced countersurveillance techniques, underscoring the continued high demand and profitability of illegal caviar trafficking," the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a news release. White sturgeon caviar sells for up to $105 an ounce while salmon roe, aka red caviar, sells for up to $12 an ounce, SFGate reports. White sturgeon fishing on the river is limited to catch-and-release pending a possible listing of the species as threatened. The Sacramento River, as well as the American River, which the release said was also the site of poaching, have been closed to salmon fishing since 2023.
"Two groups were observed tying off illegally possessed sturgeon about 100 yards away from their fishing location in an effort to evade wildlife officers," the department said. Citations were issued and the sturgeon were recovered and released alive back into the river. Poachers often "keep the sturgeon alive and hidden underwater while they look for black-market buyers," NPR notes. The fish, which can live for up to 100 years, don't start producing eggs until they are around 20 years old.
In another case, a Dungeness crab trafficking investigation revealed a "conspiracy to illegally harvest and process salmon roe for black market distribution" and "150 pounds of packaged salmon roe were seized, suggesting that approximately 75 salmon were illegally taken, the department said. (More California stories.)
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