The five littoral states of the Caspian Sea have agreed to extend the ban on sturgeon harvest from the sea by one year, according to an official with Iran Fisheries Organization.
“The ban has now entered its 15th year to protect the endangered species,” Nasser Karami-Rad was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
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 is in Golestan – all provinces in northern Iran on the shores of the Caspian Sea.”
Iran is the biggest global supplier of farmed beluga.
According to the official, the country globally ranks 14th in farmed sturgeon trade.
“Last year [March 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 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.
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.
Caviar Export
Around 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, 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,” he added.
Each kilogram of exported caviar is priced at between €1,000 and €1,300, but by the time it reaches consumers, prices increase to €3,000-4,000.
“Last year’s production of sturgeon meat stood at 3,127 tons 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 south west topped the list 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,” the official said.
Any export 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, he added, 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, and Russia is one of the biggest customers of Iran’s sturgeon meat.
Iran’s caviar and sturgeon meat 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.
