Azeri officials are taking part in the special 25th session of Commission for Bioresources of Caspian Sea, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of ecology and natural resources of Azerbaijan.
The delegation of the Ministry of ecology headed by head of department for production and protection of bioresources Rauf Gadjiyev and his assistant Tariel Mamedli will be partaking at the session to take place in Moscow April 24.
Azeri experts prepared the documents on Caspian bioresources, in particular, those regarding the last resolution by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) that prolonged the restriction on sturgeon caviar export for four Caspian countries Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. Iran is permitted to export 45 ton of caviar a year.
В"Azerbaijan committed all the obligations and we are quite surprised about such decisionВ", - the ministrys officials said.
in the course of the session it is suggested to address CITES in order to approve the quota on production of sturgeons and export of caviar for the year 2006.
CITES, which unites over 120 countries, was signed in 1973 and came into effect 2 years later. The goal of this organization is protection of rare and endangered species through regulation of trade by these species and products obtained from them. Once in two years participants gather to make revisions in convention, first of all in the lists of protected species. This Convention is supported by governmental agencies, international community and NGOs.
Commission for water bioresources unites five Caspian states Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan; Iran joined the commission just in 2002, while others have been on the commission since 1992. Once a year the commission identifies the quotas for catching of sturgeons and export of caviar for each country.
By the totals of November session of Commission for water bioresources of Caspian Sea in Astana, total quota for catching sturgeons by Caspian countries for the year 2006 has been decreased by 23.2%. Reduction of quota in 2006 split by countries is the following: the RF 30.5% (from 371 ton in 2005 to 258 ton), Iran - 16% (from 595 to 500 ton), Kazakhstan - 12% (from 220 to 195 ton) and Azerbaijan - 8% (from 100 to 92 ton).
Alongside, quotas for sturgeon caviar export for the year 2006 have been revised. In particular, reduction for such kind of export totaled: the RF to 3.9 ton from 21 in 2005, Iran to 51 from 60, Kazakhstan to 13.2 ton from 15.9, Azerbaijan to 6.5 from 6.7 ton.