TEHRAN(Mehr News Agency) -- More than 50% of Caspian Sea’s Caviar is fished by Iran, because Iran has launched a campaign to stop illegal fishing and reconstruct sturgeon resources, said Managing Director of Iran’s Fisheries Company Yahya Mohammadzadeh here Saturday.

Pointing to the $45 million of caviar exported over the past Iranian calendar year (ended March 20), Mohammadzadeh said that 90 percent of Iran’s caviar is exported and the rest is domestically consumed.

During the said period, Iran exported a total amount of 75 metric tons of seafood while as much as 400 metric tons were harvested, the official added.

Lust for fishing one of the most expensive foods in the world had not obsessed the officials of the littoral states with over fishing concerns.

“But we have planed for the current year (started March 21) to release some 328 million baby beluga and other kinds of baby sturgeon in the Caspian Sea,” comparing to the 295 million for the corresponding period a year earlier.

Since Caspian sturgeon are in short supply due to over fishing and poaching, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan agreed to set export quotas last year for the delicacy, conduct a long-term survey of stocks and increase efforts to halt illegal harvesting and trafficking.

According to The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), an intergovernmental organization mandated to manage tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran have agreed to restrict their official catch in 2003 to 147 metric tons, “78,700 tons of which is Iran’s share,” Mohammadzadeh said.

He also touched upon Iran's shrimp output rose by 22 percent to about 90 metric tons this year from about 73 metric tons last year. The figure is expected to stand at about 110,000 tons this year.

The official said about Rls.467 billion has been allocated for fisheries sector this year, showing an increase of about 18 percent compared to last year's Rls.395 billion.