Last year the UN banned five countries, including Russia and Iran, from exporting beluga caviar unless they agreed to strict quotas. Well, a year later the countries have agreed to the quotas & the international ban has been lifted. In the US however, our Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2005 ban on beluga is still in full effect so it cannot be imported. Many caviar sources think there's no reason to get upset though. They say that the advances in sustainable farmed caviar have created such a great product that the only people willing to spend the $8k on a half kilo of wild beluga probably have more money than sense.