Caspian-littoral states extend moratorium on sturgeon fishing until 2023

Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, at a meeting of the commission for the conservation and rational use of aquatic biological resources and the management of their joint stocks of the Caspian Sea, have extended the ban on commercial fishing of sturgeon species until 2023, according to the Federal Agency for Fishery, Report informs referring to Interfax.

Sturgeon fishing, as before, will be possible only for research purposes and for artificial reproduction.

The Commission was established in accordance with an agreement signed in Russia’s Astrakhan in September 2014 by representatives of the Caspian-littoral states. In the spring of 2016, the document was ratified in all participating countries and entered into force. The agreement provides that the decisions of the commission may be binding on the member states. For the first time, the commission met in Baku at the end of November 2017.

The tasks of the commission are to coordinate activities for the conservation, reproduction, rational use of joint aquatic biological resources, annually establish the total allowable catch and distribute national quotas. It also deals with the regulation of fishing and the conservation of shared aquatic biological resources based on restrictions, which may include the prohibition of fishing in certain areas and for certain types of resources for certain periods.

The maximum catches of sturgeons in the Caspian basin were observed at the beginning of the 20th century – 39,400 tons and at the end of the 1970s – 27,400 tons. A sharp decline in the number of sturgeons began in 1991.