Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

In the Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan, 123 fishing brigades and 434 fishers were involved in coastal fishing in 2015; in 2018, these numbers had increased to 148 fishing brigades and 598 fishers. The Ural-Caspian basin is an extreme- ly important source of biological resources for Kazakhstan, providing around 20,000 tons of fish per year (Kazakhstan, Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Statis- tics Committee 2009–2018). In a 2005 report, the World Bank suggested that the informal and unreported part of the fishing industry exceeds that of the formal sector in Ka- zakhstan. According to estimates, there may have been as many as 110,000 people employed in the fisheries sector, with most working on a season- al basis in rural areas that lack other opportuni- ties. This number suggests that roughly 300,000 people may be dependent on this sector for their livelihoods (World Bank 2005), demonstrating that while fisheries may have small significance in terms of the national economy, they may be of great importance to Caspian Sea communities. Turkmenistan has completely banned sturgeon fishing and the use of drift nets (Strukova et al. 2016), and has special regulatory acts to protect fish stocks (Turkmenistan 2011). In 2017, the monetary value of the industrial output of fish- eries in Turkmenistan was 0.2 per cent (Turk- menistat 2018). Fishing activities are carried out by private entrepreneurs of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmeni- stan. Marine fishing is the most common type of activity of the State Committee for Fisheries. Fishing vessels and equipment have been de- signed for sprat fishing, which comprises 40 per cent of the total catch. Agriculture is an important sector affecting the state of the Caspian environment, as well as na- tional food security and employment, especially in rural areas. Since 2004, some Caspian littoral states have experienced a decline in agriculture as a percentage of GDP, largely due to increases in industrial production and a decline in govern- ment farming subsidies (Caspian Environment Programme (CEP 2007)). 3.2.3. Agriculture

However, in recent years, the situation has changed. In Azerbaijan, for example, the ag- gregate volume of agricultural products has in- creased by 38 per cent compared with 2005. In addition, crop output and livestock production increased by 25 per cent and 54 per cent respec- tively. Furthermore, the share of agricultural pro- duction in GDP increased from 5.5 per cent to 6.2 per cent from 2010 to 2015, with the coun- try’s total added value worth US$2.1 billion in 2016, which was 5.6 per cent of the national GDP (World Bank 2015a). In the Russian Federation, agriculture is most developed in the Republic of Dagestan, where the largest contribution comes from animal husbandry. The size of sown areas and the num- ber of large and small cattle in the Republic of Dagestan is roughly twice as large as that of the Republic of Kalmykia and is also more than in Astrakhan Oblast. In the Republic of Kalmykia, agriculture is important to the economy, with livestock farming accounting for 84 per cent of agricultural output in value terms in 2015. Crop production plays a major role in Astrakhan Oblast, contributing 61 per cent of agricultural output in value terms in 2015, though its sown areas are smaller than in the Republic of Dages- tan and the Republic of Kalmykia, and have not exceeded 80,000 hectares in the last five years (Russian Federation, Federal State Statistics Service 2017). In Kazakhstan, the agricultural sector contrib- utes the same percentage as that of the Russian Federation, which in 2017 was 4.8 per cent of total GDP (World Bank 2017b). In the coastal region of Kazakhstan, gross agricultural output increased by 1.5 per cent in 2016 compared with 2015. During the same period, the number of cattle increased by 15 per cent, which is the re- gion’s main agricultural contribution. In Turkmenistan, the natural and climatic con- ditions and lack of fresh water for irrigation are barriers in the development of irrigated agri- culture. The country’s total area of agricultural land is 40.1 million hectares, with around 5 per cent or 2 million hectares used for irrigation and the remaining as pasture (Esenov and Durikov 2007). The number of people engaged in agricul-

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