Russia Urges Ban on Sturgeon Fishing

The Russian State Fisheries Committee suggested Thursday that the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea ban fishing for sturgeon for five years.

Andrey Krainy, the committee chairman, said he would take the proposal to the other countries, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the Novosti news agency reported.

The number of sturgeon in the Caspian has dropped precipitously in the past 15 years. The breakup of the Soviet Union helped aggravate over-fishing by creating three new countries regulating their own fisheries.

The landlocked Caspian Sea also has problems with pollution.

The Beluga sturgeon, which produces the most prized caviar, is large, slow growing, late maturing and long-lived. It can survive for more than a century.