Sturgeon Aquafarms LLC and Marky's jointly start the sale of purebred Beluga Caviar across the United States, becoming the only legal purveyors of this highly sought-after delicacy in America.

For the first time since 2005, the premier harvest of genuine beluga caviar has become available to American caviar enthusiasts both online on the Marky's website and offline stores.

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) banned all imports of beluga products due to the frighteningly rapid decrease of the wild population of beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. But, back in 2003, Mark Zaslavsky, Managing Partner of Sturgeon Aquafarms LLC and CEO of Marky's, succeeded in bringing original Caspian beluga to the United States and providing safe and natural conditions for growing the broodstock at Sturgeon Aquafarms. During this time, Mr. Zaslavsky has also participated in widespread efforts to reinvigorate the Caspian beluga population via education and conservation efforts, including supplying ~160,000 fertilized eggs in 2017 and 2018 to help revive the Caspian Sea's waning beluga population.

Sturgeon Aquafarms has remained the only company in the country that is legally allowed to breed beluga and produce beluga caviar, holding the first FWS exemption for the commercial sale of beluga caviar.

The Beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) is the largest sturgeon and one of the most long-lived species on the planet. Its eggs are the largest of the commonly used, edible roes. But after the beluga hatch, it takes between 10-15 years for the females to start producing eggs that can be harvested for prime caviar.

Sturgeon Aquafarms has successfully recovered from Hurricane Michael's destruction in 2018 and happy to share the first harvest of pure, all natural, high-grade beluga caviar with every gourmet food lover.

The grade of beluga caviar depends on the color and size of the beads. The beluga caviar from Sturgeon Aquafarms has the Grade 000-0, representative of its lighter color and larger size of beads. This is also indicative of the high quality of the caviar and alludes to the careful breeding of the fish.

Beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) are listed as a “critically endangered” species on the IUCN Red List and are protected by CITES. The species endured a 90% decline in global stocks over the last 60 years.

The beluga caviar at Marky's from Sturgeon Aquafarms is a notable example of how we can use natural resources to please our taste buds and cravings of delicacies while simultaneously ensuring the sustainability of a species' population in the wild.

Sturgeon Aquafarms LLC was founded in 2001 with the intent to protect and preserve endangered sturgeon species. The company's facility, using modern sustainable limited footprint designs, sits on 120 acres in Northwest Florida atop the Floridan aquifer which provides a consistent 19C water temperature, long periods of sunlight, drinking grade water, free of pollutants and disease and an area free of natural predators. Over the past 5 years Sturgeon Aquafarms has focused on its hatchery development and sexing techniques having used the most advanced ultrasound possible.
 
It has been unavailable in the USA since 2005 when it was placed on the Endangered Species Act list, making it illegal in trade. Sturgeon Aquafarms, at that time, was the only facility in the USA with live fish. In 2016, Sturgeon Aquafarms obtained the only existing permit exemption to trade in this species.

From 2011-2014 the company spawned numerous generations of Beluga producing more than is believed to exist in the Caspian Sea, then they followed with further generations of Sevruga, Sterlet, Osetra and Siberian sturgeon. Sturgeon Aquafarm's operation has been so successful that they have grown over 80,000 sturgeon which has pushed to advance sustainable aquaculture and sturgeon rearing technology.

As the only company in possession of these critically endangered species in the United States, the company has a unique position to not only contribute to the conservation of these species but to educate the public in the trade of caviar and sturgeon meat, a new product for the U.S. market.

As of 2016, the original broodstock have reached a size of over 150kg and continue to provide valuable offspring for the expansion of the company's facility as one of the largest of its kind in the world.

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Fish Information Services
https://fis.com/fis/techno/newtechno.asp?id=108976&l=e&ndb=1