TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has become the second country in the world in terms of the amount of caviar production, says the country’s fishery chief, as plans are in place to expand cultivation for sturgeon and other fish that lay the precious eggs.
Nabiollah Khunmirzaei, who leads Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO), said the country had increased its caviar production through farming sturgeon to compensate for years of ban on caviar hunting in the Caspian Sea, Press TV reported.
Khunmirzaei said Iran is almost catching up with Armenia as the world’s second-largest producer of sturgeon meat, according to remarks published in the local Iranian media.
“Since the ban came into force 10 years ago on hunting this (sturgeon) fish in the Caspian Sea, we moved shoulder to shoulder with other countries and even outpaced them,” said the Iranian official.
China is currently the largest producer of caviar in the world, with nearly 60 percent of the global supply of the product.
Speaking to Iranian state TV, Khunmirzaei did not elaborate on detailed caviar and sturgeon meat output figures in Iran. However, recent government figures suggest that the country produced nearly six tons of eggs and around 3,000 tons of meat over the past Iranian year ending March 19.
Aquaculture farms for sturgeon eggs have been set up in 22 of 31 Iranian provinces as part of IFO’s plans to increase output and export of caviar.
Authorities say flash floods that swept through parts of Iran in early 2019 caused a reduction in output for the precious eggs.
However, they say expansion of aquaculture farms and setting up port terminals dedicated to the export of caviar products could help compensate for the losses.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
