IRANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS ON CASPIAN SEA ISSUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000037

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/26/2018
TAGS: IR PGOV SENV PREL
SUBJECT: IRANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS ON CASPIAN SEA ISSUES

REF: RPO DUBAI 0021

DUBAI 00000037 001.6 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Ramin Asgard, Acting Director, Iran Regional
Presence Office, DoS.
REASON: 1.4 (d)

1.(C) Summary: On May 15 IRPOff met with an Iranian ecology
professor and his wife, a marine biologist and expert on
sturgeon fish at the International sturgeon research institute
in the Iranian city of Rasht, located on the Caspian Sea. The
couple claimed that Russia and Azerbaijan are producing
pollution in the sea, making the waters unhealthy, particularly
for sturgeon fish, the population of which is already threatened
and declining. The marine biologist said Iran is guilty of over
fishing of sturgeons for the lucrative caviar market and both
scientists claimed their government does not places importance
on wildlife conservation. Since the break-up of the Soviet
Union, the five states bordering the Caspian Sea, Iran, Russia
and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have not come to a
consensus on the division of the sea and its natural resources
(reftel). End Summary.

Pollution in the Caspian Sea - Russia and Azerbaijan blamed

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2.(C) On May 15 IRPOff met with an Iranian ecology professor and
his wife, a marine biologist and expert on sturgeon fish at the
International sturgeon research institute in the Iranian city of
Rasht, located on the Caspian Sea. The couple described the
ecological health of the Caspian sea as poor and claimed that
the neighboring countries are not doing their part to protect
the health of the sea. They claimed that Russia is the worst
polluter among the 5 states that share the Caspian sea mainly
because the Volga River, which provides 80% of the Caspian
water, carries high amounts of domestic and industrial waste
from Russia into the sea. They ranked Azerbaijan second because
of oil pollution, and lack of environmental laws; sturgeons, she
said, are very susceptible to low oxygen and the current water
quality is not protective of sturgeons. They ranked Iran third
because of over fishing, and said the other two states,
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, so far have insignificant impact on
the sea.

Caspian sturgeon faces extinction

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3.(C) The marine biologist, who does research to conserve and
restore the population of sturgeon, said that over fishing is
killing this caviar fish. She said the Caspian Sea is the
habitat for more than 90 % of the sturgeon in the world and up
to 90% of the world's black caviar comes from the Caspian
region. Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Iran
all border the Caspian and catch various species of sturgeons
for their flesh and caviar, however in recent years over-fishing
has threatened the species to the point that environmentalists
advocate a total ban on sturgeon fishing until the reserves
replenish. She said the Sturgeon population is so low that they
can hardly find fish for their research purposes. The marine
biologist blamed over fishing. She said it's essential for the
government to enforce proper monitoring to prevent the
accidental catch of young sturgeons and spawners.

4.(C) According to the marine biologist, demand for caviar
remains high with one kilogram of high quality caviar costing
about 2100 dollars, and Iran has been playing a significant role
in the lucrative market. She said there has been a tremendous
amount of sturgeon fishing in Iran in recent years, both legally
and illegally, and sometimes they even come across poachers when
they are doing field research. She said they avoid them out of
fear, and it is the government's role to control smuggling.

Government careless in protecting endangered animals

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5.(C) According to the ecologist, the government places no
importance on wildlife conservation. Regarding efforts to
protect the endangered Asiatic or Iranian cheetah ("yuz palang"
in Persian),the ecologist told IRPoff that the Iranian
government does not care about people, let alone animals,
because many people do not have health insurance and cannot buy
medicine. For example, he said the government recently approved
construction of a major highway that cuts directly through the
main habitat of the endangered Asiatic cheetah. Just 2 weeks
ago one cheetah was hit by a car and killed, the global value of
which he said was 25 thousand dollars. He said
environmentalists have very little influence on government
behavior whereas wealthy developers exert a great deal of

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influence.ASGARD