Sturgeons are among the world's most critically endangered fish, devastated by illegal caviar harvesting and habitat loss. Both wild and farmed sturgeon face significant welfare challenges.
Wild sturgeons subjected to illegal harvesting are killed for their eggs, causing immediate death after years of slow growth. Farmed sturgeons in aquaculture face welfare challenges from the long production cycle requiring years of confined rearing before egg production. Non-lethal caviar extraction methods, though welfare-improving compared to killing for eggs, involve surgical procedures with recovery requirements. The conservation emergency facing sturgeons makes any harvest — legal or illegal — from wild populations deeply problematic both ethically and ecologically.