The 32nd session of the Commission for Caspian Biological Resources will focus on sturgeon fishing and quotas for 2010-2011 and 2012, 1news.az reports.
Azerbaijani Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources Rauf Hajiyev said that the session will discuss the Russian ban on sturgeon fishing. Azerbaijan supports a 10-year ban. The ban was introduced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on November 18, 2010.
Ali Asker Mojaheti, head of the fishing administration of the Iranian port of Shilat, said that Iran stopped sturgeon fishing in 2011, despite the quota of 400 tons. It released 200 million fish hatchlings in 2011, including 10 million sturgeons. Iran caught 22,000 tons of fish this year.
Bauirzhan Zhumazhanov, acting head of the Kazakh Committee for Fishing, said that his state supports the 5-year ban. Kazakhstan will increase the sturgeon population in the Caspian Sea by 10 million tons.
Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are discussing the project of the sturgeon fishing ban. The document is to set an international regime, banning industrial fishing. It includes measures to restore the sturgeon population and exchange information.
The Caspian Sea has been suffering from negative tendencies in its eco system and biological resources. The population of sturgeons is critical. The ban on fishing for 5-10 years would stop the sturgeon population's decline and allow it to increase.
