Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.27/ Trend F.Karimov/
Iran has increased catching fish from the Caspian Sea by 25 percent since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21) compared to the same period in the past year, the Fars News Agency quoted Gilan province's fishing cooperative head Younes Ramezani as saying.
Some 120 kilograms of caviar has been handed over to the fishery department of the province so far, he added.
To date, more than one ton of sturgeon fish has been caught, he further said.
Iran caught 88 tons of bony fish in the Caspian Sea from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21).
The value of the mentioned amount of fish is estimated at 15 billion rials (some $483,870 based on the price of USD at the free market).
The figure is estimated to hit over 4,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.
Deputy Head of Iran Fisheries Organization Ali-Asghar Mojahedi said in September that Iran's total bony fish catch in the previous calendar year (which ended March 20) stood at 16,000 tons.
"Iran's bony fish catch has been on the rise in the past 12 years," the IRNA News Agency quoted Mojahedi as saying.
Deputy Agricultural Jihad Minister Gholam-Reza Razeghi said in July that Iran's total fish export is expected to hit $350 million by the end of the current calendar year.
"Iraq, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy are the main destination markets for Iran's fish," Razeghi stated, adding that Russia and Ukraine are the new markets for Iran's fish exports.
Iran's annual catch in fishery sector was around 500,000 tons in the previous year.
Iran's total catch stood at 450,000 tons two years ago. The catch off the southern coast totaled 412,000 tons in the mentioned year, while the catch off the northern coast totaled 38,000 tons.