Sturgeon (BLACK CAVIAR)The town of Frutigen in the Bernese Oberland is currently a hive of activity preparing a fish farm for alpine caviar and a tropical greenhouse for exotic fruit.
Warm water from springs and the Lötschberg rail base tunnel is being used for the project.
Dmitri Pugovkin, who is a biologist from Siberia, catches an almost metre-long sturgeon in a net from the tank, grabs it forcefully but carefully and lays the wriggling fish on a board.
The researcher, who is working on the project for Bern University, uses ultrasonic equipment to determine the fish’s sex.
“It is male and five years old,” he says before sliding it back into the pool.
The water has a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and flows directly from the Lötschberg base tunnel where it has collected over a 14-kilometre stretch until it comes out at the northern portal.
The temperature is ideal for the sturgeon, a fish species that is endangered because of the much sought after caviar.
Another story for The Swiss Caviar.
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