Baku, Azerbaijan, August 10
Trend:
The director general of Mazandaran Fisheries Organization in northern Iran said the number of the province’s beluga sturgeon farms is on the rise, noting that more farmed caviar is being exported from Mazandaran, which is located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
“Currently, 18 beluga sturgeon farms are operating across Mazandaran,” Valiollah Mohammadzadeh said, IRNA news agency reported recently.
He added that some $10 million worth of farmed caviar were exported to Asian and European countries during the first three months of the current Iranian fiscal year (started March 21).
“This shows a threefold rise compared with the corresponding period of last year,” the official further said.
“We expect to produce and export 2,500 tons of farmed caviar to Europe and Asia this year,” Mohammadzadeh said.
We produced 1,800 tons of caviar last year, he added.
Once among Iran's most famous exports, the industry nearly collapsed due to trade restrictions and an international clampdown on sturgeon fishing from the Caspian Sea. The long, prehistoric fish, whose glittery, bead-like eggs make the choicest caviar, had almost been driven to extinction by overfishing.