Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 25/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran has exported 350 kilogrammes of farmed caviar to Europe from its northern Mazandaran province, Iran Fisheries Organisation's Director for Caviar Affairs Mahmoud Assadollahi said on Friday.
"Iran currently produces less than 20 tons of wild surgeon annually," the Fars News Agency quoted Assadollahi as saying.
"If the illegal fishing continues, Iran's wild caviar fish will become extinct in eight years," he said.
It was announced on September 25 that five Caspian Sea regional countries have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to save the sea's sturgeon.
Turkmenistan has prepared the draft of the MoU, the Fars News Agency reported.
This follows a 2012 agreement based on which the region's countries agreed not to fish sturgeon for five years and that is still in force.
The Iranian Fishery Organisation Director Gholamreza Razeqi previously said that the country's caviar output is projected to hit three tons in the current Iranian calendar year, the IRNA News Agency reported.
He said that some five million sturgeon fries were released by the fishery organisation into the Caspian Sea in the previous calendar year which ended March 20.