Vital Caspian Graphics - Challenges Beyond Caviar

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Catching the last sturgeon

The Caspian area is the world’s main producer of wild caviar (83% in 2003) and supplies the three largest markets, the European Union, Japan and the United States. The construction of several hy- droelectric power plants and dams along the Volga river significantly altered the flow of water into the delta and destroyed about 90% of the sturgeon’s spawning grounds, which can be as far as several hundreds of kilometres upstream. With high levels of water pollution, sturgeon also suffer from vari- ous diseases. According to the survey of the Food and Agriculture Organization, reported data from Caspian states excluding Iran indicate that the stur- geon catch has dropped from an average of about 22,000 tonnes a year in the 1970s to about 1,500 tonnes a year since 2002. ��w��n��e c��n��n��n��l�� )K��-�F��V��e�V��e�T��*

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