UN body thaws caviar trade freeze for Iran, but maintained it for Azerbaijan

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) approved exports of up 44,370 tons of caviar from Iran.

Tehran had sought a trade quota of 50,805 tons, but the CITES approval only covers eggs produced by the Persian sturgeon, one of the five species fished by Iran's caviar industry. "It's the only species which isn't doing too badly in the Caspian Sea," David Morgan, head of CITES scientific division, said.

The UN body maintained its ban on caviar from the rare Beluga sturgeon, which is prized by gourmets.

Every year, CITES asks caviar producing countries for a quota for the following year's catch. The body, which groups 169 countries, said in January that it could not approve the 2006 quotas proposed by major exporting nations, saying that they "may not fully reflect the reductions in stocks or make sufficient allowance for illegal fishing".

CITES said on Wednesday that it was continuing its overall freeze on exports by the other Caspian Sea nations: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. They had failed to come up with satisfactory quota proposals at a recent meeting, which were needed if they were to be allowed to restart the money-spinning commerce, Morgan explained. CITES is unlikely to grant them approval at all this year, he added.

"It's unfortunate not have been able to come up with sustainable quotas," he said. "It was the last chance."

CITES first imposed caviar trade controls in 1998, after a decline in sturgeon stocks following the break up of the Soviet Union. Fishing increased after the end of communist-era restrictions, raising fears among environmentalists that sturgeon would be wiped out.

CITES has persistently pressed Caspian Sea governments to crack down, pointing in particular to mounting illegal fishing which it has said could be many times greater than the legal catch.

The Caspian is the source of 90 percent of the world's caviar. It was already hit with a temporary ban in 2001.

/Middle East Times/