Speaking on the sidelines of the Sixth National Conference and Exhibition on Caviar and Related Industries, Nabiollah Khoun-Mirzaei said over 3,500 tons of sturgeon meat have also been produced which indicates an upward trend in the production of the mentioned product.

Underlining the outstanding growth in the production of the mentioned fish, the official noted that the country’s annual caviar output stood at only one ton in the Iranian calendar year 1392 (ended on March 20, 2014), and only 600 tons of sturgeon meat was produced.

“With the ban on commercial sturgeon fishing following the agreement of the Caspian littoral states, the breeding of these fish species has accelerated in the region,” the deputy agriculture minister said.

He stated that the development of the sturgeon breeding industry is on the IFO agenda, adding: “In recent years, in some parts of the country, sturgeon breeding in cages has been on the agenda and we are trying to develop this type of breeding.”

Noting that the Iranian caviar is the best and most expensive caviar in the world, Khoun-Mirzaei said: “Considering the popularity of Iranian caviar and sturgeon meat in the world and the high price and profitability of the mentioned commodity, the export of the product is done officially through the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).”

The Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae. It is found in the Caspian Sea and to a lesser extent the Black Sea and ascends certain rivers to spawn, mainly the Volga, Kura, Araks, and Ural Rivers.

The threats faced by this fish include excessive fishing with the removal of immature fish before they have been bred, damming of the rivers, loss of spawning areas, and water pollution.

Five Caspian states have banned the exploitation of these reserves in an agreement signed during the third meeting of the Commission on conservation and rational use of water bioresources of the Caspian Sea held in Tehran in 2019.

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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.

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