The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will deny the issuance of CITES export permits for paddlefish and products (caviar) harvested from Kentucky Lake in Tennessee during the recently completed 2008-2009 fishing season. Kentucky Lake is an impoundment of the Tennessee River in western Tennessee and western Kentucky and provides at least 63 percent of all caviar harvested in Tennessee. This action will not impact the domestic sale of the caviar, but will prevent its export.

The Service has determined that the harvest level taking place under current state regulations is not sustainable and this makes it impossible to meet the requirements for issuance of export permits under provisions contained in the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). The specific decision or finding is the