Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.20 / Trend, I.Isabalayeva /
The next meeting of representatives from the five Caspian countries, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Russia to discuss a moratorium on sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea will be held in Baku in early December, the chief adviser on Caspian biodiversity at Azerbaijan's Ecology Ministry, Tariel Mammadli told Trend on Wednesday.
He said that although an agreement on a moratorium on commercial sturgeon fishing had been reached, the issue is still not fully agreed.
Mammadli said in any case, in 2010 and 2011 the Caspian states had voluntarily engaged in sturgeon fishing only for research purposes and increasing the fish stocks. Commercial fishing had not been carried out. The moratorium is planned to be in force for a period of between five to10 years.
The Caspian Sea Water Bioresources Commission annually determines the national quotas for sturgeon fishing for each of the five coastal states. It also agrees the amount of export quotas of sturgeon meat and caviar which have to be submitted for approval to the Secretariat of the CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Endangered species).