I always thought there were only two kinds of fish, those worth throwing flies at  – and bait. “Bait” is a slim category as us hardened Californians pride ourselves on being culinary “shock troops” – we gleefully ingest gastronomic foibles, delicacies, and taboo, which doesn’t leave much in the way of undesirable chow.

I’ve tried the cheap stuff and it’s bait. Despite the clever little cracker, cracked ice, and delicate silver spoon, it just didn’t muster any reaction from me other than “empty an aquarium, butter it, then lick the glass.”

We’re talking caviar, a delicacy foisted on us by folks that fermented potatoes for liquor.

Them same lads are proposing a 5 year moratorium on Black Sea sturgeon fishing to preserve the nearly extinct remnants of the Beluga Sturgeon. The US banned importation in 2005, although a lively Black Market still exists.

Poaching of sturgeon has become a $1 billion-a-year business largely in the hands of organized crime. As a result, the fish faces extinction in the Caspian Sea, home to 90 percent of the world’s sturgeon. Russian sturgeon farms in major Caspian ports such as Astrakhan have tried to revive the fish’s population, but the massive amount of overfishing in the Caspian has made replenishment a losing battle.

At nearly $5000 dollars per pound, the Black Sea’s sturgeon are among the most lucrative poaching targets in the world. Now that the Russian government is looking at a worldwide moratorium, the price will become higher.

Is this the same fate we’ll endure with the paltry remnants of the pacific salmon stocks? Next month yields the initial closure and many suggest may be of two year’s duration.

A thriving Black Market will result, led by all those fancy restaurateurs who insist Wild fish are some much more flavorful than farmed. It’s a double whammy to the Dept of Fish and Game as they’re woefully understaffed and now both sturgeon and salmon will be prized poaching targets.

It may be a test of your ethics as so many fish will be hooked fishing for something else. In poor economic times in a depressed community, that’s a hundred dollar bill on the end of your line.

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