Representatives of the Russian authorities announced plans to start industrial sturgeon fishing in the Sea of Azov in 2027–2028.
This was stated to Russian-controlled media by the head of the Federal Agency for Fishery, Ilya Shestakov.
According to Shestakov, Russia allegedly observes a recovery of sturgeon stocks in the Sea of Azov and considers the opening of commercial fishing possible.
He also said that if these plans are implemented, annual catches could reach about 350 tons of Russian sturgeon.
It should be noted that there are populations of Russian sturgeon in the Sea of Azov, but they are extremely small. This species is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and other conservation documents. Industrial fishing of sturgeon is completely prohibited, and any extraction of these fish from natural water bodies is considered illegal.
In 2021 in Kherson, for the first time in Ukraine, more than one million sturgeon were released into the Dnipro to stock the river, and in 2023, due to the blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP, the only state sturgeon farm in Ukraine was flooded.