July 28, 2025 — Legislators in the U.S. Congress are considering legislation that would exempt American sturgeon farmers from Endangered Species Act (ESA) restrictions, although opponents say the legislation would open the door to Chinese and Russian imports.
The issue stems from a 2022 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposal to list four species of sturgeon – Russian, ship, Persian, and stellate – under the ESA. The rule was decried by the caviar industry at the time for not differentiating between sustainably farm-raised sturgeon and wild populations. With other species, such as Atlantic salmon, U.S. regulators have found ways to allow aquaculture operations to continue to trade fish legally even though it was listed as endangered in the Gulf of America, opponents said at the time.