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Iran's caviar trade down: Official
LONDON - Iran’s caviar exports reached 18 tons during March 2005-6 which is insignificant given the vast potentials of the trade in this delicacy, said Head of Iran’s Fishery Organization Shabanali Nezami.
Talking to the press, Nezami, formerly director general of Gilan Environment Protection Department, said the decline was caused by the weak performance of the organization to protect the endangered sturgeon, ISNA reported.
Iran has for several years retained its position as the world’s largest caviar exporter with average annual overseas sales of 59.9 tons.
Under a four-year sturgeon reproduction assistance program, the organization is to increase the population of this prized fish which has been declining at an alarming rate in recent years. The organization has also announced plans to release 20 million fingerlings into the Caspian each year.
Export quotas for sturgeon meat and caviar are restricted in compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which controls the number of endangered sturgeon.
The convention has restricted exports for all sturgeon at 50% of the total catch for beluga, 40% for star sturgeon, and 10% for Russian and Persian sturgeon.
Elsewhere, Nezami said under the provision of the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-10), the organization should supply 76,000 tons of fish to the domestic market in a bid to turn the valuable white meat into a staple food for Iranians.
“Last year, the organization recorded a 44% growth in fish catch compared to the figure for the year earlier, reaching 15,000 tons.“
Also last year, he said, the organization was breeding only 20,000 fish eggs for species categorized as endangered but the number has increased to several millions and is expected to rise further.
“We are already ahead of the fourth plan’s projections; for example, the organization has already released 200 mln fish into the Caspian which is 50 percent of the figure laid down in the plan for the current year (2006-7).“
The official said fishery sector boasts numerous potentials that remain untapped. “The organization has been lobbying to secure its financial requirements through budget allocations rather than caviar exports,“ he concluded.
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