Poacher. The word conjures images of mustache-twirling scoundrels stalking endangered species for fun and profit. Not so Alik.
This sturgeon fisher from Kazakhstan has socks filled with holes and trouble feeding his five children with the meager food and income he garners catching fish with a line.
Yet the fact remains that Caspian sturgeon stocks have plummeted from estimated catches of 20,000 to 26,000 tons a year in the early 1980s to about 3,000 tons today. At least one expert blames poachers, both big- and small-time.
Alik is a criminal. His crime endangers the sturgeon but helps keep his family alive. What would you tell him?
Read Robert Cullen’s essay and add your thoughts to our forum.
See online-only photographs from this assignment.
You can also read Cullen’s article “The Rise and Fall of the Caspian Sea,” reproduced from the May 1999 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
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