Iranian Specialists Using New Technologies to Extract Caviar

Abbas Ali Zamini, the head of the Innovation Center for Fisheries Technologies and Sturgeon Breeding and a faculty member of the Islamic Azad University’s Lahijan branch, described the use of new technologies in extracting caviar, producing leather from sturgeon skin, and commercializing research and scientific products as among the upcoming plans of this center.

“The most important plans after increasing and breeding sturgeon are new technologies in extracting caviar and its application in the health industry, producing leather from sturgeon skin, and commercializing research and scientific products, and necessary steps will be taken to form technology cores and targeted technology units,” he said.

Zamini underlined that the short-term goals at the center include a multi-stage increase in sturgeon production from 5 tons to 25 tons, and then 50 tons of meat and at least 400 kilos of caviar in the next few years.

In a relevant development in April, a cooperation agreement was signed between 12 companies and groups of stakeholders in the field of fish farming to create a value chain for caged fish farming in the Caspian Sea region in Northern Iran.

A total number of 12 influential companies and groups with a long history in various sectors of the industry, including the production of hatched eggs, baby fish nursery as the primary production input, health, nutritional and executive management of fish farms in cages, fish farms on land, export and trading of products, fishing unions and feed production factories, have agreed to create a value chain with a production capacity of 1,500 tons of fish by using all the country's hardware and software technologies to accelerate the development of the cage fish farming industry in the Northern waters of Iran.

The most important projects identified for the creation of this chain value include the completion of the technological equipment of the caged fish farm, including imaging, farm management software, etc., completion of the equipment and the optimization of the intermediate farms, including the nano-bubble, ozone, and filtration systems, and creation of the production-line of value-added products from fish waste to supply the raw materials of aquatic feed, concentrate production project to increase the safety of farmed fish by using medicinal plants to reduce the consumption of antibiotics, completing and equipping the processing unit including IQF machine, automatic processing, etc.

Design and construction of support float for caged fish breeding farm, completion of surveillance system equipment for breeding and nursery unit, implementation of the project for selection and production of Iranian triploid eggs, creation of a specialized feed production line for fishmeal, and supply of specialized vehicle for transporting fish are other projects to be implemented by the companies.

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