Kazakh, Azerbaijani and Turkmen Caviar

A farm established in 1954, cited as part of Azerbaijan’s hatchery history, and a caviar company established in 2017 tell two different chapters of Azerbaijan’s sturgeon story. Across the Caspian, Kazakhstan has documented caviar production, while Turkmenistan has invested in a sturgeon farming project. The sea itself remains under restraint: according to a November 2025 government report, the Caspian fisheries commission agreed that commercial sturgeon fishing would not take place in 2026.

What the caviar records reveal

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have documented caviar production. Turkmenistan has documented investment, but equally clear evidence of present output is missing. A farm opening, an advertised capacity and a harvested batch each tell a different part of the story.

All three countries belong in the wider regional guide. The word “Caspian”, however, identifies neither a fish’s species nor a batch’s source.

Kazakhstan: caviar beyond the plans

World Bank research records actual Kazakh caviar production. There are named farms, too. Caspian Royal Fish says its Atyrau farm began operating in 2014; Kazakhstan’s investment agency separately documents Ost Fish at Saratovka in East Kazakhstan, commissioned in 2016.

These examples establish a farming record, rather than a complete national census or each operation’s present export clearance. Hatcheries releasing young fish into the Ural do a different job from farms raising females for commercial roe. Their opening dates cannot establish when caviar production began.

Azerbaijan: a hatchery’s history, a producer’s beginnings

Azerbaijan Fish Farm dates its establishment to 2017 and describes reconstructing an older Kura hatchery for Baku Caviar production. The farm established in 1954 belongs to that hatchery history; it does not establish uninterrupted commercial caviar manufacture since that year.

The word “Caspian”, however, identifies neither a fish’s species nor a batch’s source.

Research from 2021 describes Persian sturgeon, sterlet and beluga in Azerbaijani aquaculture. Breeding stocks and finished caviar are separate records: the species held at a farm need not all be supplying harvested roe today. Company conservation claims likewise require evidence beyond the farm’s existence.

Turkmenistan: the project and the production target

Hazar Balyk opened on 7 September 2015 in Turkmenbashi district, according to Turkmenistan’s state information service. The announcement set out intended sturgeon and caviar production. The government’s March 2019 report still presented commercial caviar as a future objective: Hazarbalyk planned to obtain caviar for domestic and foreign markets by 2020. The documented record establishes the opening and the target, while leaving present output less clear.

Kazakhstan at a glance

Azerbaijan at a glance

Turkmenistan at a glance

Rivers, species and conservation status

The Ural, also called the Zhayik, is Kazakhstan’s central Caspian sturgeon river. In Azerbaijan, the corresponding river system is the Kura. Beluga, Russian and stellate sturgeon run through this regional history, alongside ship sturgeon, whose surviving populations require particular care.

The shared species record lists beluga (Huso huso), Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and stellate sturgeon (A. stellatus) as Critically Endangered in the 2022 update. CMS’s December 2025 compilation also lists ship (A. nudiventris) and Persian sturgeon (A. persicus) as Critically Endangered, citing global assessments dated 2019.

Those categories describe species worldwide. They do not measure individual national stocks or confirm spawning today. The US Fish and Wildlife Service records Caspian sturgeons using Turkmen coastal waters, a coastal presence distinct from river spawning.

The ship sturgeon account follows that species’ separate conservation history. Scientific names here follow the CITES record. On 22 October 2025, the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group and World Sturgeon Conservation Society rejected both proposed genus revisions and put forward a different classification that includes the dissolution of Huso.

Wild fishing and regional cooperation

Commercial sturgeon fishing will not take place in 2026, according to the November 2025 official Turkmen report on the Caspian fisheries commission. Harvest is confined to scientific and reproductive purposes. That is the reported regional position for all three countries; national river rules and permits still need checking. The table’s November 2026 dates record when the entries were checked, not when the report was published.

Read fishing and trade records separately. A fishing moratorium, a published zero export quota and the absence of a submitted quota mean different things.

The commission gives countries a forum for managing shared stocks; recovery of depleted populations requires its own evidence. For the legal detail, consult the country-by-country restrictions guide. The wild-region overview explains the basin geography.

An October 2020 US Fish and Wildlife Service assessment identifies illegal harvest and trade as pressures on Caspian sturgeons. Careful provenance checks therefore matter. The assessment supplies neither a present-day illegal market share nor grounds for an allegation against any named farm.

Registered operations and import eligibility

The CITES search index identifies Azerbaijan Fish Farm LLC under AZ-CITES-06 as an exporter, with processing/repackaging marked. The entry identifies the registered operation and its listed activities; it does not establish farm ownership, current production or eligibility for every destination.

CITES recommendations say registration codes should distinguish processing plants with P and repackaging plants with R. Use the producer-register check to connect a brand name with a registered facility, then check destination eligibility separately.

EU and Northern Ireland

Regulation (EU) 2026/2228, adopted on 14 October 2026, replaces Annex IX to Regulation (EU) 2021/405: Azerbaijan has wild-catch and aquaculture permissions restricted to finfish products, including roe and caviar; Kazakhstan has wild-catch permission only; Turkmenistan is absent.

Kazakhstan’s listing does not authorise Kazakh farmed caviar or make wild Kazakh sturgeon harvest lawful. Country permission is also only one stage: the establishment and consignment must qualify. For Northern Ireland, check the applicable EU route rather than relying on Great Britain’s approval.

Great Britain and the United States

Great Britain operates a separate approval framework under assimilated Regulation (EU) 2019/626 and associated controls. British guidance requires country and establishment approval, together with the applicable documentation. An EU listing does not establish British approval.

Beluga faces an additional barrier in the United States: the Endangered Species Act rule in 50 CFR 17.44(y). Since 30 September 2005, the United States has suspended imports of beluga caviar and meat originating in all three countries. The suspension includes indirect shipments and personal effects.

Origin on the label

Look for KZ for Kazakhstan, AZ for Azerbaijan and TM for Turkmenistan. On repacked caviar, the origin country and the repacker’s location tell different stories. Processing Kazakh roe abroad does not change its country of origin to the processing country.

CITES personal effects exemptions may cover up to 125 g, subject to national restrictions. CITES warns that national rules may be stricter. Switzerland, the UAE, China, Japan, Russia and Australia each have separate import requirements.