From wild Russian caviar to wild Iranian caviar

Since the dawn of time, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea have been the exclusive realm to sturgeons. It’s a worldwide-renowned fish as it’s the source of caviar .

Until the Russian Revolution, fishing rights in Russian-controlled areas were granted by the czars, in return for large sums of money. Famous names from this period include the Sapochnikov brothers in the Astrakhan region, the Vorobiov firm in St Petersburg province and the Lazar Mailov firm in the Kura river region. Operations in the Southern Caspian Sea was conceded by the Iranian government to the Russian-Armenian firm Lianosov, for the sum of 10 million roubles! The amount of money that had to be paid to acquire fishing rights were therfore considerable.

Following the Russian Revolution in 1925, the Soviet government nationalized all fisheries. In 1928, the Iranian government transferred the monopoly of fishing in the southern Caspian Sea to a joint Soviet-Iranian company called Mahi-Iran. The 25-year term of the contract promised a degree of security. Joint investments helped to modernize and develop the fishing industry, while maintaining the waters.

When the contract expired on February 1, 1952, Iran took over the Russian shares, paid for its acquisitions in kind with deliveries of sturgeon and wild caviar, and began to build, with the state company SHILAT, the advent of the worldwide success of Iranian caviar.

Today, Iranian caviar is controlled by the national company SHILAT. But unlike the Soviet Union, SHILAT auctions its catch every two to three years for the European, American and Asian markets, which then acquire exclusive sales rights in their sector.

So, for many years, the Iranians left the exploitation of caviar in the Caspian Sea to the Russians. Russian caviar was then exported throughout Central and Western Europe. The first caviar transshipment port was Pillau (now Baltiisk), with links to Warsaw. From there, Russian caviar was shipped to Europe. Because it passed through the Polish capital, this wild caviar was often called “Warsaw caviar”. Russian caviar was mainly exported to Italy. According to Jacob Sandrart, every spring Italian cargo ships would anchor in Russian ports on the Baltic Sea to load caviar.

Did you know? Russian caviar produced on the Iranian side of the Caspian Sea had a special name, distinguishing it from 100% Russian caviar: PERS (Persian) RIBA (riverbank) caviar, i.e. “caviar from the Persian riverbanks”. In 1952, the Shah of Iran took over the fishing rights and nationalized all the fisheries under the control of SHILAT. This marked the beginning of wild Iranian caviar.