Beluga caviar Service to ban in 2005 the importation of beluga caviar which originated in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea basin. In 2006, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) suspended all trade made with the traditional caviar-producing regions of the Caspian and Black Seas (Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga), (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine) due to the producing countries' failure to apply international regulations and recommendations. Caviar from Iran is exempted from the ban. Iran is considered by CITES to practice effective conservation and policing of its fisheries. In January 2007,
USS Sterlet (SS-392) escort. The setup was hasty at best. All four missed, and she prudently opened range to reload and prepare for another attack on the damaged freighter still afloat. As she approached, her quarry was dead in the water, down by the stern, and partially enveloped by smoke. Two of the escorts were thrashing about the surrounding waters, indiscriminately shooting and dropping depth charges. At 22:35, one of them passed between "Sterlet" and her victim. The submarine shifted her sights on him and, four minutes later, sent three torpedoes streaking at him. The frigate sighted the wakes, immediately turned into them,