Renaissance of Azerbaijan’s caviar production with sustainable farming

Caviar, a delicacy made from the salted eggs of sturgeon fish, has long been associated with luxury.

Originally sourced from the Caspian Sea, it gained prestige in the 17th century when Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich I made caviar a state monopoly. Its popularity among elites turned it into a global status symbol. As demand outpaced supply, the race to produce more affordable caviar intensified.

The Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water, lies between Europe and Asia and supports a rich marine ecosystem. Among its native species, sturgeon stands out as a symbol of luxury and history. Several sturgeon species, including Beluga, Osetra, and Sevruga, are endemic inhabitants of the sea.

The Beluga sturgeon, which can grow up to six meters long. produces the most sought-after caviar thanks to its exquisite taste and large eggs. However, the sturgeon population has been significantly impacted by unregulated fishing, habitat destruction, and pollution, leading to endangerment. In response, international regulations were introduced, including a commercial fishing ban in the Caspian Sea enforced by Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. 

To counter dwindling wild stocks, sturgeon farming requires technical expertise, investment, and patience, as females take 7 to 14 years to mature and produce eggs. Some farming methods aim to speed up egg production, though these can harm the fish and reduce caviar quality.

Azerbaijan’s response to industry practices

Azerbaijan Fish Farm (AFF), a local aquaculture company, seeks to reestablish Azerbaijan’s reputation in the global caviar market by producing over nine tonnes of caviar annually through sustainable practices. Founded in 2017, AFF took over Azerbaijan’s first sturgeon farm, located by the Kura River estuary on the Caspian’s west coast. An insight profile by The Fish Site reports that the company was originally established in 1954. Back then the farm required modernization, and AFF has spent years upgrading its facilities to produce premium sustainable caviar while restoring threatened sturgeon species.

As CEO Rufat Tabasaranskiy explains: “Azerbaijan has always been considered as producer of high quality farm-to-fork products, and LU-MUN Holdings [the parent company of AFF] saw the aquaculture sector as having huge opportunities, especially in sturgeon farming.” AFF’s facilities include a 60-hectare pond system and a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) equipped with Hesy Aquaculture technology, housing a hatchery and broodstock units. Additionally, a saltwater flow-through system operates beside the Caspian Sea. 

The company farms multiple endemic sturgeon species, including Beluga (Huso huso), Acipenser stellatus, Acipenser persicus, sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), and Acipenser gueldenstaedtii. Sterlet, the fastest-growing, produces caviar within 12 to 18 months, while Beluga takes at least 12 years to mature. “We’re looking at new methods of farming and feeding that will allow us to harvest the Beluga caviar in year number eight, without sacrificing fish welfare,” Tabasaranskiy explains. To ensure optimal conditions, he hired a UK-based fish welfare consultant. While AFF has harvested Beluga sturgeon acquired from other farms, the first batch fully raised from eggs will be ready in three to four years. “Caviar farming requires huge patience. Fish farming is very similar to wine making in many aspects – such as the relationship between the operational team and the investor. The cost of a mistake is very high – if a mistake is made in feed composition, for example, we will only really understand it in two years,” he reflects. 

Despite Azerbaijan’s deep-rooted caviar tradition, Tabasaranskiy notes that few local producers have met international farming standards. Historically, Azerbaijan was more associated with illegal wild sturgeon poaching. Meanwhile, major caviar-producing nations like China, Russia, and Iran have prioritized lower costs at the expense of quality. “When we started our two goals were to make caviar sustainable and to ensure it tastes right. In the last 20 years the caviar market has been deteriorating. The Chinese have been doing crazy things in order to lower the cost of production – such as cross-breeding different sturgeon species,” he explains. In particular, he highlights a shift toward Huso dauricus sturgeon, which has altered caviar quality worldwide. 

“In the last 20 years, because of the use of dauricus hybrids, all the caviar in the world became green. When restaurants see our caviar – which is greyish or blackish – they don’t understand that this is the proper colour!” Tabasaranskiy exclaims.

Restocking native species

Beyond caviar production, AFF is also engaged in conservation efforts, breeding and releasing juvenile Caspian salmon (Salmo ciscaucasicus)—a species even more endangered than sturgeon—to bolster wild stocks.

“For every jar of caviar we sell, we release 10 fish back into the wild, so we’re bringing a net-positive effect for the environment,” he observes. AFF released its first 500 Caspian salmon fingerlings in 2023 and plans to release 5,000 more this year, with even larger numbers in the future. Additionally, it has released 50,000 Acipenser gueldenstaedtii fingerlings. 

While AFF still has much work ahead, Tabasaranskiy is proud of its progress. “We’ve changed attitudes to Azerbaijan’s caviar sector. People had been forgetting about us, and now they position Azerbaijan above Russian and Iranian caviar,” he argues. He also credits the company for securing government support for aquaculture development. “Buyers of caviar in Europe and Israel saw the potential of aquaculture in Azerbaijan and, after they negotiated with local regulators such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Ecology, finally aquaculture started to be subsidised and supported by the local and national governments,” Tabasaranskiy reflects. 

Today, AFF employs around 440 people, with 20 percent working directly on the farm. Notably, many of them are former sturgeon poachers. AFF is also conducting extensive research to improve fish farming practices. “We’re testing all types of systems to try to understand the optimal conditions for fish farming in each system. We’re looking at water quality, different species of fish – we’re working with trout, with carp, with sturgeon, with Caspian salmon. It’s one of our biggest achievements as fish farming wasn’t well developed in the ex-Soviet countries, but we hope we will change this trend,” he observes.

Key challenges

Despite its successes, AFF faces ongoing challenges. The company is collaborating with universities to map the DNA of Caspian sturgeon, a complex task due to decades of cross-breeding in Iran, Russia, and China. Some distributors have even introduced sturgeon species that were previously unknown. Another obstacle is the shortage of skilled sturgeon farmers in Azerbaijan. “We are very keen on building the expertise and have been cherry-picking the specialists who have experience of working with sturgeon in both fresh and salt water – which require completely different skills,” he explains.

To address this, AFF has been training its own specialists and leveraging state-sponsored programs that send farmers to study abroad in Europe and North America. Tabasaranskiy also aims to reshape the perception of caviar, which is often linked to “Russian mafia and oil oligarchs.” He believes there is a growing market for ethical and sustainable caviar, such as that produced by AFF. 

By Nazrin Sadigova