Caspian Crisis Cuts Caviar Catch 里海危機致使魚子醬產量大幅降低

Russian caviar stocks are dwindling fast

俄國魚子醬庫存迅猛減少

Gourmets are going to have to pay a lot more for their black caviar this year if they can find it at all.

Russia says it may have to stop exporting the expensive delicacy for the first time in a century.

Officials blame bad weather, and pollution for the dwindling numbers of sturgeon - the fish whose eggs produce one of the world's priciest gourmet treats.

Russian fishermen on the Volga River catch around 20% of the world's black caviar, tearing it out of the bellies of giant sturgeon, a species as old as the dinosaurs.

But this year, fewer fish are coming into the Volga delta from the Caspian Sea to spawn.

美食家們今年將不得不為黑魚子醬花更多的錢－－如果他們能找到的話。

俄國說它在本世紀以來可能第一次停止出口這種昂貴的美味。

俄國官員們抱怨說惡劣的天氣、污染是鱘魚數量減少的原因－－它的卵是世界上最昂貴的美味之一。

俄國伏爾加河上的魚民們提供世界上百分之二十的黑魚子醬，他們從鱘魚這種象恐龍一樣古老的魚種的肚子里將魚子擠出。

但今年，從里海來伏爾加河產卵的魚群數量減少了。