Caspian states discuss fishing quotas in Baku
By Nigar Orujova
The Azerbaijani capital Baku hosted a meeting of the commission on bio-resources of the Caspian Sea on April 24-25 to discuss a wide range of issues including sturgeon fishing and national fishing quotas.
Delegations from ministries and fishery committees of Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan -- the countries bordering the resource-rich sea -- attended the 33rd meeting.
Opening the meeting, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Rauf Hajiyev noted that the proposal on banning commercial fishing for sturgeons made by Kazakhstan's President was welcomed at the summit of the Caspian littoral countries held in Baku in November 2010.
Hajiyev said the agreement on the protection of sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea, proposed by Russia, would be discussed.
Head of Iran's Shilat fisheries organization, Ali Asghar Mojahedi, said that the cooperation of the five littoral countries could create the conditions to resolve the emerging problems.
The purpose of the Baku meeting is to coordinate cooperation for the effective use of biological resources of the Caspian, he said.
In return, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's Fisheries Committee Nariman Zhunusov informed the participants about the work undertaken by his country in this area. Kazakhstan bans industrial sturgeon fishing, and violators are sentenced for up to three years in prison with confiscation of property.
A member of the Russian delegation, deputy head of the Caspian Fisheries Research Institute "CaspNIRKh", Valeriya Paltseva, said Russia is taking measures to preserve and increase fish stocks of the Caspian Sea. According to a program adopted in Russia, the comprehensive measures will be carried out until 2020.
Head of the Turkmen delegation, chief of the Scientific and Production Department of the Turkmen State Committee for Fisheries, Orazmuhammet Muradov, also noted that the efforts of all the Caspian countries are required to achieve the outlined objectives.
In accordance with the Commission's bylaws, chairmanship in the organization was transferred to the Russian Federation for the next two years.
The agenda of the event covers the sturgeon fishing issue, the national fishing quotas for 2013, the work done on fish breeding and protection of fish resources in 2011-2012, submission of reports on the current status of fish stocks as a result of marine expeditions and scientific researches, total allowable catch of aquatic bio-resources in the Caspian Sea and its national distribution.
141 fish species are registered in the Caspian Sea, and the main fishery in the region, a sturgeon fishery, is operated using Caspian resources. Some 90 percent of the popular black and red caviar sold all over the world comes from the Caspian.
Sturgeon fishing in the Caspian was allowed only for scientific research purposes in 2012. The decision was passed at a meeting of the water and biological resources commission held with the participation of representatives from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran.
According to the Iranian international scientific research institute, sturgeon fish stocks, which are inherent only for the Caspian Sea, have shrunk by 25-30 percent and if the situation does not change the population of sturgeons will perish in 2021.
The framework convention adopted in the Iranian capital in 2003 was the first legally binding regional agreement signed by all the five coastal states, laying out general requirements and an institutional mechanism for environmental protection in the Caspian region.