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Problems Associated in Sustainable
Management of Sturgeon in the Caspian Sea
Dr. Mohammad Pourkazemi
Sturgeon International Research Institute and Mohammad Reza Hossieni Shilat
Trade Corporation
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At present the valuable stocks of sturgeon in
the Caspian Sea have been severely affected by the irrational interventions of
man. These trends have been very obvious since 1989. During the past 20 years
sturgeon stocks that stood at 26500 tons in 1980 reached to lower than 2500 tons
in 1999. In other words 90 % of the sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea have been
destroyed (Table 1). The decreases in sturgeon stocks differed in various
regions of the Caspian Sea. In the former Soviet Union more than 90 % of the
stocks have been lost whereas about 60 % of these stocks have been lost in the
Iranian regions. This difference is mainly due to the abundance of Persian
sturgeon (A. persicus) that is found more abundant in the southern basin
and Iranian shores of the Caspian Sea as a result of rehabilitation of stocks of
this species in the recent years (Table 2).
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Table 1
Comparison of sturgeon catch (expressed as 1,000 tons) in the
Caspian Sea conducted by Iran and the former Soviet Union (1980-1999) |
| Year |
Former Soviet Union |
Iran |
| 1980 |
24.80 |
24.90 |
| 1981 |
23.90 |
23.50 |
| 1982 |
22.10 |
21.00 |
| 1983 |
19.80 |
19.00 |
| 1984 |
18.50 |
15.50 |
| 1985 |
13.30 |
10.52 |
| 1986 |
8.90 |
6.10 |
| 1987 |
5.10 |
4.20 |
| 1988 |
3.20 |
2.10 |
| 1989 |
1.50 |
1.10 |
| 1990 |
1.70 |
1.90 |
| 1991 |
1.50 |
1.30 |
| 1992 |
1.60 |
1.65 |
| 1993 |
1.69 |
1.80 |
| 1994 |
1.85 |
2.05
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| 1995 |
2.65 |
3.40 |
| 1996 |
2.69 |
2.10 |
| 1997 |
1.918 |
1.618 |
| 1998 |
1.241 |
1.083 |
| 1999 |
1.000 |
1.000 |
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