No one expects the days of wild fishing for sturgeon to return in search of their precious roe. But black caviar You are safe. The new paradise is the ultramodern fish farms, where it is no longer necessary to sacrifice the prehistoric fish to satisfy the appetite of lovers of the “delicacy of the tsars”.
“The sturgeon survived the dinosaurs, but not man. Now, we produce both pure and hybrid species, ”said Svetlana Kasáeva, deputy director of production and science at Aquatir, a complex based in Tiráspol, capital of the Moldovan republic of Transnistria.
Russia It has long since ceased to be the world’s largest producer of legal caviar, but it is still the source of the sturgeon gene pool and the more than twenty sister species from which the best is extracted.
Largest man-made reserve of beluga
Taking advantage of the ancient spawning tradition in the waters of the Dniester River, Aquatir began in 2006 to raise sturgeons from the Black and Caspian Seas. Fifteen years later, it is home to the largest artificial reserve of beluga sturgeons in Europe.
“We have about 450 tons of fish. One third corresponds to the beluga ”, explains Kasáeva, a specialist from Ástraján, the most important Russian port on the Caspian.
The fish farm consists of a total of eleven modules, where sturgeons weighing 120 grams to spectacular belugas weighing 200 kilos are raised, which can produce in each cycle more than 15 kilos of black caviar each.
Until they reach one year of life, these specimens are very sensitive to diseases, since they have a very sensitive immune system, especially to stress. Therefore, the young swim in special pools.
Another of the modules is dedicated especially to the hibernation of larger sturgeons.
“The water must be cold, the same as the room temperature, for the sturgeon to fulfill its natural functions. Sturgeons hibernate. There are scientists who consider that hibernation is not mandatory, but I can say with knowledge that without it the quality of caviar is worse ”, he explains.
Long live the sturgeon
This business is not for lovers of quick and easy money. Sturgeons do not reach sexual maturity until they are 10-12 years old. Perhaps for this reason, unlike in the past, it no longer opens the channel to the fish.
“You no longer have to kill the sturgeon. It is a worldwide trend. Sturgeons are in the Red Book, so they must be protected. Their fishing is prohibited all over the planet ”, he explains.
From sexual maturity, the sturgeon produces roe every three to four years, a period that has been reduced to two and a half years in captivity with the technology available at Aquatir. That is why slaughtering the animal now is not only inhumane, it is also not profitable.
“Once the eggs are removed, the sturgeon feeds, regains strength and reproduces again. Taking into account that they live for about 140 years, imagine how much caviar they can produce throughout their life ”, he highlights.
Before, specialists analyze mature sturgeons one by one by extracting caviar samples, which are observed under a microscope after being literally cut in half with a razor blade. “It’s a jeweler’s job,” says one of the managers.
They decide if the sturgeon in question is ready to hibernate. After hibernation, it is returned to a pool at room temperature to physiologically stimulate caviar production.
The fish is so heavy that it takes six men to lift it out of the pool, grab it, and restrain it to the operating table with special belts.
“The animal does not suffer. A specialist opens her belly at the level of the genital area and removes the caviar. The wound heals quickly and the sturgeon does not suffer any sequelae or trauma ”, he pointed out.
Guaranteed quality
Kasáeva acknowledges that “there is a lot of incompetent on the loose” in this business. Aquatir, which has its own quality control laboratory, covers the entire production chain. From breeding to packaging of caviar and its export.
“Either it is done well or it is not done. We minimize risks as much as possible. We check the quality of the water daily in all the modules. In addition, we do not use chemical ingredients that can affect the water and we do not use dyes or antibiotics ”, he insists.
As a result, almost five tons of caviar a year. There are four classes in order of quality and price: beluga, Russian sturgeon, sterlet and vester (hybrid). Tiráspol caviar reaches the United States, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Spain or Germany.
Its only seasoning is salt. Vacuum caviar is also sold, for which a space technology of food packaging for cosmonauts is applied.
A 50-gram container of beluga caviar, whose roe is about three to four millimeters in diameter, costs around 80 euros in a store in Tiráspol. “The roe does not break on the palate, it melts,” says the package insert.
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