Observations on prospects for further inland fisheries development in Iran

Map. Principal rivers and lakes of Iran including border drainages. Dotted lines indicate seasonal lakes and rivers with intermittent flow. Major areas visited: 1. Astara lagoon. 2. Sad-e-Sangar fish farm. 3. Anzali lagoon. 4. Kelardasht coldwater fish farm. 5. Lapu lake. 6. Gorgan Bay. 7. Vochmgir reservoir. 8. Shadegan marsh.

Table 1

Inland water fisheries in Iran (1980 – 1985)
Name	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
Common carp (Cyprinus carpio)	1 032	2 000	1 000F	52	83	100F
Roaches (Rutilus spp.)	0	0	0	121	347	350F
Freshwater siluroids, etc. (Siluroidei)	2	2	0	2	3	0
Pike perch (Stizostedion lucioperca)	0	0	0	12	13	10F
Freshwater fishes, nei	6	6	10	10	10	10F
Sturgeons, nei (Acipenseridae)	1 429	1 496	1 450F	1 288	1 557	1 650
White fishes, nei	71	60	100F	206	168	170F
Salmonoides, nei (Salmonoidei)	-	-	-	1	1	1F
Diadromous clupeoids (Clupeoidei)	856	618	300F	2	4	10F
Mullets, nei (Mugilidae)	150	400	1 500F	2 733	2 135	2 200F
Total freshwater fish	3 546	4 582	4 360	4 427	4 321	4 501
Total marine fish	39 981	40 000	43 636	51 861	53 816	55 850
Grand Total	43 529	44 580	47 996	56 288	58 139	60 351

F = FAO estimate from available sources of information

T a b l e 2

Average yearly catches of three different groups of sturgeon obtained in Iranian waters in five-year intervals, from 1930/31 to 1961/62
	YEARS
	1927/28–31/32		1932/33–36/37		1937/38–41/42		1942/43–46/47		1947/48–51/52		1952/53–56/57		1957/58–61/62
Body weight	kg	%	kg	%	kg	%	kg	%	kg	%	kg	%	kg	%
Beluga (Huso huso)	57 820	5.4	90 583	10.5	112 685	18.5	160 874	30.2	223 929	31.3	205 540	28.2	418 059	33.0
Tass mahi*	842 050	78.9	680 186	79.0	437 682	71.8	287 031	53.9	264 105	36.9	276 670	38.0	548 238	43.2
Sevruga* (A. stellatus)	167 110	15.7	90 614	10.5	59 291	9.7	84 574	15.9	227 346	31.8	246 431	33.8	301 218	23.8
Total	1 066 980	100.0	861 383	100.0	609 658	100.0	532 479	100.0	715 380	100.0	728 641	100.0	1 267 515	100.0

* In the category of Tass mahi are included three species of sturgeon, A. güldenstädti (chalbash), A. persicus (kara burun) and A. nudiventris (sheap) when large sized. When of small size sheap are included with sevruga.

Table 3

Average annual sturgeon landings from the USSR Caspian Sea Basin (in metric tonnes)
Year	1931–40	1941–50	1951–60	1961–70	1971–80	1980–85
Catch	15 900	7 400	11 180	15 900	22 600	23 600

Table 4

Anzali lagoon fish yield 1933 – 1962 (FAO, 1964)
Species	Years of fishing
Species	1933/34	1961/62
Common carp	441 tonnes	201 kg
Pike perch	3 483 tonnes	33 kg
Bream	1 395 tonnes	0 kg
Kutum	1 363 tonnes	85 kg
Total	6 682 tonnes	319 kg

Table 5

Atrak river water chemistry (A), and Atrak lakes (B)
A.	Atrak River (values in mg/1)
	HCO₃	-	4.9	Ca	-	3.8
	Cl	-	5.6	Mg	-	9.1
	SO₄	-	14.5	Na	-	11.0
	Freshwater section			Saline section
	TDS (mg/l)		16.15			153.5
	Electric conductivity (μmhos)		2 362			23 500
	pH		7.4			7.4

B.	Atrak Lakes
	Lakes	Area (ha)	Type	m a.s.l. or b.s.l.
	I	1 400	Freshwater	+ 10
	II	450	Freshwater	+ 6
	III	400	Freshwater	+ 5
	IV	400	Freshwater	0
	V	2 500	Partly salty	- 5

Table 6

Water quality of the Dez and Karun rivers and their reservoirs (values in mg/l where not otherwise stated)
	Dez Reservoir	Karun Reservoir	Karun at Ahvaz	Karun at Shadegan
Ca	39 – 67	46 – 70	51 – 92	160
Na	20 – 44	25 – 70	78 – 134	116
K	0.3 – 1.5	0.3 – 1.9	0.7 – 1.5	-
Mg	7.9 – 18	10 – 23	12 – 25	97
Cl	24 – 96	26 – 113	95 – 236	308
SO₄	32 – 86	20 – 100	70 – 156	132
Electric conductivity μmhos	400 – 600	460 – 760	700 – 1240	(TDS 38 ppm)
pH	7.2 – 8.3	8.0 – 8.6	7.7 – 8.3	-
TSS	210 – 364	260 – 460	-	-
Temperature °C	9.6 – 35.0	-	-	10 – 25

Number of samples and years of collection:
Dez reservoir - 1971–75: 12;
Karun reservoir - 1975–76: 12;
Karun at Ahvaz - 1975–76: 12;
Karun at Shadegan - 1964–70: 12;

TDS = Total dissolved solids
TSS = Total suspended solids

Figure 1. Crayfish traps for the use in Anzali lagoon

Figure 2. Anzali lagoon - crayfish traps and fishermen

Figure 3. Sad-e-Sangar (Dr. Beheshti) fish farm. Trays for cultivation of oligochaetes - food for sturgeon fingerlings

Figure 4. Gorgan Bay - reed near the mouth of the Gorgan River

Figure 5. Stripping eggs from grass carp

Figure 6. Pul-Astaneh Training and Experimental Fish Farm: hatching jars and larval collection funnels in the hatchery

Figure 7. Jehad hatchery near Rasht

Figure 8. Jehad hatchery: weighing the brood stock

Figure 9. Sardab Rud at the Kelardasht (Bahoner) trout propagation farm in Elburz mountains. Caspian salmon fingerlings produced in this farm are released into the lower reach of this river.

Figure 10. Marvdasht trout hatchery: concrete fingerling raceways

Figure 11. Marvdasht trout hatchery: fiberglass fish feeding tanks with inlet sprinkler pipes.

Figure 12. The lower reach of the Karun River.