From the Independent:

Its many fans call it black gold, and with good reason. The price of wild caviar has shot up by 60 per cent over the past 12 months, prompting a smuggling boom that has thrown the survival of sturgeon into doubt. The illegal trade in the little black eggs is worth an estimated £250m a year globally, and more than 12 tonnes have been seized in the European Union since 2000.

The conversion to dollars is based on today’s exchange rate provided by Google.

Illegal fishing worldwide is a $4.5 billion market.