Eating is illegal, so is artificial farming, and so is private farming. Eating Chinese sturgeon is suspected of illegally hunting and killing precious and endangered wild animals, and shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and fined.

Article 34 1 of the Criminal Code of People's Republic of China (PRC).

Whoever illegally hunts and kills rare and endangered wild animals under special state protection, or illegally buys, transports or sells rare and endangered wild animals under special state protection and their products, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also be fined; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; If the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years and shall also be fined or confiscated. Whoever, in violation of hunting laws and regulations, hunts in a game reserve or during a game ban or uses prohibited tools and methods to destroy wildlife resources, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or a fine.