A reduction of the fishing quota for Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea has been made at the country's own?initiative, an adviser to the Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry's department for development and preservation of river basin biodiversity, Tariyel Mamedli, told Trend.
A meeting of the Commission of Bio-resources of the Caspian Sea, which took place in Tehran, reduced Azerbaijan's quota for fishing in the Caspian by seven percent to 6.7 percent compared to 2008 (in 2009 the issue was not raised).
"Azerbaijan has announced its implementation of the ban on fishing of two of the four species of sturgeon in the country's river basins. A decision was taken by the Azerbaijani side to unilaterally reduce its own quota," Mammadov said.
Mamedli said Azerbaijan made a statement on the use of biological resources only for fish farming and research, and invited all the Caspian countries to join this initiative at the Tehran meeting.
The next meeting to determine fishing quotas will be held in early December in Iran on the department's initiative.
