Exploitation of the Caspian Sea Bioresources (with Focus on Economics of Bioresources Utilization)

Fishery and fishing industry are in decline in the Caspian. The reasons are mainly hidden in the long-term overexploitation of Caspian bioresources and in the poor control on illegal and unreported fishery in the region during the last two decades. Since the early 1990s, the illegal Caspian catches have largely exceeded the officially reported ones (nearly twofold on the average). The collapse of Caspian sturgeon and kilka stocks has made the fishery industry nonprofitable in all Caspian littoral states. Other important problems are also discussed in this paper giving for each Caspian country specifics.