A total of 166,000 tons of seafood worth $554 million were exported from Iran in the last fiscal year (March 2021-22), registering a 19% and 14% rise compared with the year before, according to the head of Iran Fisheries Organization.
“About 700,000 tons of seafood were harvested from the sea and more than 610,000 tons were farmed in fish farms across the country,” Hossein Hosseini was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official said the government plans to increase seafood harvest and farming to 1.06 million tons and 1.5 million tons respectively in the next three years.
“Our production of sturgeon meat stood at 3,500 tons and caviar at 16 tons last year. We intend to raise the two figures to 20,000 tons and 100 tons respectively by the end of the fiscal 2025-26,” he added.
Hosseini noted that, at present, 291 million ornamental fish are produced in Iran every year, with a turnover of 60 trillion rials ($187 million).
“Last year, our shrimp production reached 58,000 tons. We exported 30% of our yields, i.e. 5,300 tons. We plan to increase shrimp production and exports to 70,000 tons and 8,000 tons respectively this year [started March 21],” he said.
According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the volume of shrimp exports from Iran in the fiscal 2021-22 marked a 140% rise compared with the 10-year average (15,300 tons) and a 67% increase compared with the five-year average (21,750 tons), Seairan.com reported.
The Fishery Production and Trade Union of Iran wrote on its website that 95% of last year’s overall exports were farmed shrimp.
Iran’s main export destinations during the period under review were China with 14,200 tons, the UAE with 11,200 tons and the Russian Federation with 4,150 tons. Other traditional customers of Iranian shrimp are Turkey, Iraq, Spain and France.
Iran is a major seafood producer in the region with trout, caviar and shrimp being its main exports. The southern Bushehr Province is Iran’s farmed shrimp production hub.
Hormozgan, also in southern Iran, is another major producer.
Iran’s fishery sector has created a total of 233,059 direct and indirect jobs.
Caviar Exports Rise 65% to 5.7 Tons
A total of 5.77 tons of caviar were exported from Iran to 33 countries in the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), registering a 65% increase compared with the year before, an official with Iran Fisheries Organization said, citing figures released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
“More than 3.77 tons of the total sum were shipped from the country’s customs terminals and the remaining 2 tons were exported in suitcase trade,” Nasser Karami-Rad was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
Each kilogram of exported caviar is priced at between €1,000 and €1,300, but increases to €3,000 to €4,000 when it reaches consumers.
Iran is the biggest producer of beluga caviar in the world, he added.
Beluga caviar is caviar consisting of the roe (or eggs) of the beluga sturgeon Huso huso. The fish is found primarily in the Caspian Sea. It can also be found in the Black Sea basin and occasionally in the Adriatic Sea. Beluga caviar is the most expensive type of caviar.
The Beluga sturgeon is currently considered critically endangered.
The official said Mazandaran and Gilan in northern Iran and Fars in the southwest topped the list of caviar producing provinces.
“Presently, there are 177 active beluga sturgeon farms in 22 out of 31 provinces of Iran, 147 of which are producing on industrial scales with official permits and 30 are small and family-run farms,” he added.
Any exports of caviar, he added, requires legal permits issued by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention).
As per the convention, caviar exports for which permits have not been obtained will be considered contraband and owners will be subjected to heavy fines.
CITES is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of International Union for Conservation of Nature. The convention was opened for signature in 1973 and CITES entered into force on 1 July 1975.
Its aim is to ensure that international trade of specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.
Caviar, Sturgeon Customers
According to Isa Golshahi, another official with Iran Fisheries Organization, the lion’s share of Iran’s caviar is purchased by the European market while Russia is one of the biggest customers of Iran’s sturgeon meat.
Iran’s caviar and sturgeons are also exported to Persian Gulf littoral states, including the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait as well as Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Malaysia, China and Japan.
Caspian Sea, in the north of Iran, is the world’s primary and largest habitat of the beluga, the most famous sturgeon species, as well as four other sturgeon species.
However, the deteriorating condition of Caspian Sea has long been threatening this fish with extinction. The declining sturgeon population and the ban on their fishing have caused a downtrend in Iran’s caviar exports.
Studies show that most of the world’s sturgeon spawn in the rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea. Iran has some of the harshest laws on poaching the fish while authorities have sought to persuade other countries in the region to implement similar regulations to protect the fish.
The long, prehistoric fish, whose glittery, bead-like eggs make the choicest caviar, had been driven nearly to extinction by overfishing.
Now, dozens of Iranian producers are raising sturgeons legally on fish farms.
The Caspian littoral states have banned fishing sturgeons for commercial purposes since 2011.
