REVISITING THE STATE OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL REPRODUCTION OF STURGEONS IN THE VOLGA-CASPIAN BASIN

Abstract

Under present conditions of depletion of natural resources and introduction of a moratorium for commercial sturgeon fishing there is a need to take urgent and radical steps in order to conserve the Caspian populations of these valuable species. Natural and artificial reproduction efficiency shall be improved in order to restore sturgeon population level in the Volga-Caspian basin. The analysis of the current state of natural sturgeon reproduction in the Volga river unregulated part has shown that due to a variety of reasons its efficiency has been minimized. The role and importance of artificial reproduction is increasing, yet in the last years its efficiency has been negated because of increasing deficiency of sturgeon sires in natural populations. Timely composition of productive stocks in the fish ponds of 6 Astrakhan region sturgeon breeding hatcheries allows to provide artificial reproduction fish-breeding operations with high quality spawns and milters within the conditions of their population’s decline in the natural habitats. The data on the quantity and the biomass of the sturgeon productive stocks at the Astrakhan sturgeon hatcheries prove that the prospects for developing artificial reproduction are possible only due to using stocks available at the hatcheries.