Iranian Caviar is known as the most expensive fishery product in the International trade. Caspian Sea is the home for Caviar by a greatest diversity of Sturgeons in the world. Out of the 100 years’ fisheries research in Iran, pertaining to the importance of Sturgeon issues in the unique habitat of the Caspian Sea, International Sturgeon Research Institute (ISRI) was stablished in 1994. ISRI inaugurated on May 14th 1994 by the former President of Iran which officially began its operation in 1995. The proposed bill to establish this Institute was approved and passed by the legislature in October 1997 and the constitutional law for the Institute was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 12th July 2003. After ratification of amendments on 2nd July 2004, it was approved by the Security Council of Iran and the constitutional law was declared on 18th August 2004. Since 29th August 2012 to present, ISRI upgraded and activated as a specialized Int. Institute in the field of Sturgeon.
Since ISRI establishment, several projects on applied research and basic science have been conducted and the outcomes have been made available through scientific publications and workshops which provided help to facilitate resolve specific problems associated with the Fisheries-Aquaculture issues of Sturgeons.
ISRI published scientific papers, research articles, books, also organized workshops, seminars, conferences, symposiums and scientific attachments which provided advantages of these International, regional and national activities to the exploitation procedure of Sturgeons and address to the management authorities for sustainable Sturgeon fisheries & aquaculture development.