17:07 - 27.11.2017

---

27 ноября, Fineko/abc.az. The Caspian states have extended a ban on commercial sturgeon fishing for 2018.

Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) informs that the first (inaugural) session of the Commission on the conservation & rational use of Caspian Sea aquatic bioresources and management of shared stocks has completed in Baku.

"Representatives of all Caspian states made a decision concerning a ban on commercial fishing of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea in 2018 and agreed that within the 2nd session the Commission will consider a possibility of extending the moratorium for a longer period," the Agency said.

The Commission was established in accord with the agreement signed in Astrakhan in September 2014 by reps of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The document was ratified in the spring of 2016.

The Commission is designed to coordinate the preservation, reproduction, rational use of shared water resources, determine annually the total allowable catches and distribute national quotas. Commission’s authority also includes regulation of fishing and preservation of shared water bio-resources based on restrictions, which may include prohibition of fishing in certain areas and concerning separate kinds of resources for certain periods.