Turkish Caviar

Salted granular caviar and pressed caviar both belong to Turkey's documented caviar tradition. Around Samsun and the Sakarya mouth, wild Black Sea sturgeon supported twentieth-century production, with Istanbul an important market. By the late 1970s, the fishery was already collapsing.

Today, Turkey's sturgeon story runs through research stations, commercial farms and registered caviar operations. Fish are being reared, but rearing does not necessarily mean harvesting roe. AyFish says it plans caviar production for 2027.

Turkey at a glance

The sturgeons of Turkey's Black Sea rivers

The Kızılırmak and Yeşilırmak reach the Black Sea near Samsun. Farther west, the Sakarya meets the same sea. These river systems anchor Turkey's sturgeon history.

Historical literature associates six species with the Turkish Black Sea region: beluga, Huso huso; Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii; stellate sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus; ship sturgeon, Acipenser nudiventris; European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio; and sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus. The 2022 global assessment results classify the first five as Critically Endangered and sterlet as Endangered. Those categories describe each species worldwide, rather than counting the fish in Turkish rivers.

An FAO field report from 1989 described historical runs in the Kızılırmak and Yeşilırmak, alongside smaller Sakarya runs of unknown species composition. Its authors did not visit the Sakarya, leaving that river less fully documented. Across all three systems, historical records and recent encounters must be distinguished from evidence of successful spawning.

From river fisheries to protection

Turkey's caviar tradition had more than one form. Devrim Memiş's 2014 historical review describes both salted granular caviar and pressed caviar, with twentieth-century production associated with Çarşamba and Bafra around Samsun and Karasu near the Sakarya mouth. Istanbul was an important market.

The earlier cultural setting unfolds in the Ottoman and Caspian trade history. That longer history encompasses consumption and trade; the documented modern fishery establishes a more specific connection to Turkish waters. Ottoman consumption or trade alone cannot identify the Turkish origin of every consignment.

The FAO's contemporary account captures a fishery already collapsing by the late 1970s. Statistics were incomplete and species identification uncertain. Its catch totals record fish landed, not caviar produced: calculating roe output requires direct production records.

When was wild sturgeon fishing banned?

1997 is the decisive year. Turkish conservation researchers consistently identify it as the point when protection extended to all sturgeon, following earlier restrictions that treated beluga differently. Turkish conservation literature reports protection for anadromous sturgeons throughout Turkey since 1997.

Today's commercial fisheries framework rests on Fisheries Law No. 1380 and implementing communiqués. These include No. 2024/20, published on 11 August 2024 for the period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2028. That later regulatory cycle is distinct from the historical closure.

Bycatch, habitat and conservation work

Sturgeon still appear in accounts of Turkey's coastal fisheries, often as bycatch: fish caught while fishing for something else. During the 2000s, Zengin and colleagues documented Russian, stellate and beluga sturgeons through accidental captures and reports of illegal marketing around the Kızılırmak and Yeşilırmak basin. These encounters record surviving fish, without establishing recovery of a self-sustaining population.

Releasing young fish is one intervention; it does not by itself establish that adults can reach suitable spawning grounds and reproduce.

The FAO river assessment describes dams obstructing upstream movement, altered flows and reduced spawning habitat. Yet the decline began before the dams' construction. Dams alone could not explain it.

A Turkish research programme launched in 2006 brought together habitat assessment, genetic work, tagging and broodstock development, the maintenance of adult fish for breeding. It covered the Black Sea coast and several rivers, including the Sakarya. At Yomra, researchers also developed reproduction techniques.

Conservation work extends beyond hatcheries. The GFCM has documented a BlackSea4Fish pilot focused on sturgeons' marine life and interactions with fisheries, promoting regional collaboration and fisher engagement. The Black Sea Commission's strategic documents place sturgeon depletion within wider ecosystem pressures.

For the mechanisms behind these threats, read dams, pollution and bycatch. Releasing young fish is one intervention; it does not by itself establish that adults can reach suitable spawning grounds and reproduce.

Is sturgeon farmed in Turkey today?

Yes. Sturgeon rearing is documented in both research and commercial settings. The Central Fisheries Research Institute describes a sturgeon production unit, cooperation with regional trout facilities, marine cage studies and a sturgeon aquaculture techniques project dated 2019 to 2024.

Commercial farming has a separate chronology. Eurofish's 2025 interview with AyFish places the arrival of its first sturgeons in late 2020 and 2021, initially at Gaziantep and subsequently at Keban. The species being reared are beluga, Russian, Persian and sterlet.

AyFish's website, checked in November 2026, says sturgeon meat is already available and caviar production is planned for 2027. That company timetable is not proof of an existing roe harvest and cannot establish the output of other Turkish businesses.

Turkey's earlier research and later commercial farm development are separate chapters, not a single founding story.

Registered operations and international trade

Turkey has two entries in the public CITES Türkiye register checked in November 2026: TR001, Royal Fisheries and Aquaculture Corporation, and TR002, AyFish. AyFish's registration is dated 24 December 2024. The register combines Processing/Repackaging in one column, so it does not yield separate counts for those activities.

Registration identifies caviar operations, rather than providing a census of farms or confirming a current Turkish roe harvest at either facility. For international trade, wildlife permissions and food import eligibility require separate checks; neither proves that a particular shipment has occurred.

Turkey's CITES implementation report names the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as Management Authority and assigns scientific advice to TÜBİTAK.

Other destinations include Switzerland, the UAE, China, Japan, Russia and Australia. Each has separate import requirements. Personal effects exemptions may cover up to 125 grams per person, subject to destination rules, species restrictions and labelling requirements.

Recognising Turkish origin

Look for TR in the CITES country-of-origin field. That is the code for caviar of Turkish origin; a Turkish repacker or exporter alone does not establish where the roe originated.

Ask for the complete original label and supporting documents. The US labelling rule distinguishes origin from repacking information, an important distinction when following a tin's journey. Traceability information records the declared chain rather than proving the contents through independent testing.

What Turkish caviar is known for

Turkey's documented distinction lies in its rivers, fisheries and processing history, rather than an established national tasting profile. Memiş links caviar to the northern river fisheries and records both salted granular and pressed forms. The historical picture is richer than a single Turkish style.

For the connoisseur, the most useful questions are concrete. Which species produced the roe? Where were the fish reared? Where was the roe first packed? Has the stated harvest taken place? The answers separate a documented Turkish product from a geographical description or a future production plan.

Where to go next

• Middle East and Turkey: place Turkey within the wider regional guide.
• The Danube and Black Sea Caviar Trade: A Regional History: follow the connections between neighbouring fisheries and markets.