<p>A proposed sturgeon farm could become Georgia's caviar catalyst.</p><p>Investors are planning the state's first sturgeon farm on a 175-acre tract of land in northeast Georgia's Oglethorpe County where the fish would be bred to produce caviar _ sturgeon eggs _ and sturgeon meat.</p><p>After hearing the plan, the county's zoning commission promptly endorsed a zoning request that paves the way for the fish farm. It must now be approved by the county commission.</p><p>"It's interesting," said Robert Johnson, the commission's chairman. "I think it would be a good land-use project that would maintain the character of the county."</p><p>But developers are still trying to fish out details. Tests conducted over the next few weeks must show there's enough groundwater to feed a well that would produce at least 100 gallons of water a minute, said Ed Nichols, the project's developer.</p><p>If it works, it could be lucrative. Demand has spiked since an international ban on wild caviar exports went into effect last year. The sturgeon are killed to harvest caviar.</p><p>Sturgeon meat, too, commands a hefty price. The meat retails for $22 a pound in the New York market, and fetches about $8 wholesale, said University of Georgia sturgeon researcher Douglas Peterson.</p><p>The farm would be the state's first, joining at least two large farms in California and several other projects underway in Florida.</p><p>The project would eventually house four buildings that would contain several fish tanks. One building would hold a hatchery, a nursery, a fish-processing area, a lab and a storage area.</p><p>Once the farm's tanks are stocked with Siberian sturgeon, Peterson said meat production from male sturgeons could begin in about three years. Caviar production will take longer, likely about six years, he said.</p><p>The zoning commission cleared the plan, but not before a member asked whether the farm-raised sturgeon could escape and establish themselves in the wild.</p><p>Peterson dismissed the notion.</p><p>"Sturgeon," he said, "are not kudzu."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2dec4c8)</p>
