Russia has proposed imposing a five-year moratorium on sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea to safeguard stocks, Federal Fishery Agency head Andrei Krainiy said on Thursday.
"We have suggested introducing a five year moratorium," Krainiy told a news conference, adding Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan supported the proposal, while Turkmenistan was still yet to state its views.
Krainiy also said Russia has not caught sturgeon in the Caspian Sea commercially in the last five years and but has caught some sturgeon for breeding stock.
The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) decided several years ago to limit export of black caviar and sturgeon fishing from the Caspian and Black Seas, as the bulk of caviar and sturgeon from the region are exported illegally.
