A total of 18.5 tons of farmed caviar and 4,600 tons of sturgeon meat were produced in Iran in the fiscal 2022-23 (ended March 20), according to an official of Iran Fisheries Organization.
“The number of caviar farms in the country increased from 16 to 20 from the fiscal 2012-13 to fiscal 2021-22 to 195 farms in 22 provinces of Iran in the fiscal 2022-23, of which 145-150 have undertaken mass production,” Nasser Karami-Rad was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
“We plan to produce 100 tons of caviar and 10,000 tons of sturgeon meat annually and fortunately caviar breeding has been developed in 22 provinces. In the second phase of the plan, the goal is to produce 140 tons of caviar and 20,000 tons of sturgeon meat with the entry of the private sector,” he added.
According to the official, caviar breeding takes 10-12 years, therefore, reaching the stated goals requires at least a decade.
“Currently, the capacity to produce about 110 tons of caviar and 9,000 tons of sturgeon meat has been created in the country and we are witnessing an increase in the output of both caviar and sturgeon meat,” he said.
Karami-Rad estimated that caviar exports stood at 5.5 tons in the last Iranian year.
“There are seven farmed species of caviar in Iran, five of which are native to Iran and two are non-native. About 70% of Iran's caviar production belong to the beluga species, which is one of the most important species in the world and about 30% belong to the sturgeon species and other species such as great sturgeon, Siberian, etc.,” he said.
“The development of sturgeon breeding in the Iran Fisheries Organization is about four decades old, but most of the production started a decade ago.”
Ban on Sturgeon Harvest in Caspian Sea Extended
The five littoral states of the Caspian Sea agreed to extend the ban on sturgeon harvest from the sea for another year in 2023.
“The ban has now entered its 15th year to protect the endangered species,” Karami-Rad said.
The official noted that any sturgeon caught is for reproduction purposes, it goes to research centers to be reproduced and then released into the sea.
“We have four sturgeon research and reproduction centers in Iran at present. Two strategic centers are in Gilan Province, one is in Mazandaran and another in Golestan, all provinces in the north of the country on the shores of the Caspian Sea,” he said.
Iran is the biggest global supplier of farmed beluga.
According to the official, the country ranks 14th in international farmed sturgeon trade.
“In the fiscal 2021-22, we produced a total of 16 tons of sturgeon on aquafarms across the country, 5.5 tons of which were exported and the rest were consumed domestically,” he said.
Beluga caviar consists of the roe (or eggs) of the beluga sturgeon Huso Huso. The fish is found primarily in the Caspian Sea, 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.
Caspian Sea, in northern 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.
“A total of 5.77 tons of caviar were exported from Iran to 33 countries in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 65% increase compared with the year before,” Karami-Rad said earlier.
“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.”
Each kilogram of exported caviar is priced at between €1,000 and €1,300, the official said, adding that when reaching the end consumers, prices increased to €3,000-4,000.
“The production of sturgeon meat stood at 3,127 tons in the fiscal 2020-21 and that of caviar at 16.1 tons across 20 Iranian provinces,” he said.
Apart from Mazandaran and Gilan in the north of the country, Fars in the southwest top the list of caviar producing provinces.
Any exports of caviar 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 the permits have not been obtained will be considered contraband and cargo owners will be subject 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 (IUCN). 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.
According to Isa Golshahi, another official with Iran Fisheries Organization, the lion’s share of Iran’s caviar is purchased by the European market, as Russia is one of the biggest customers of Iran’s sturgeon meat.
Iran’s caviar and sturgeon fish 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.
Iran to Mark International Caviar Day
The 8th International Caviar Day Conference is scheduled to be held on July 18 in cooperation between the Aquatics’ Production and Trade Union of Iran, Iran Fisheries Organization and the Caviar Producers and Exports Association, according to Shahriar Eslami-Tabar, the executive secretary of the conference.
The 8th Caviar Day Conference will be held in Iran to introduce activities related to farmed caviar production. The event is also aimed at creating liaison between traders and producers, IRIB News reported.
The official noted that an exhibition will be held in the fields of caviar production, processing, etc. alongside the conference.
