Creation of a sperm bank for sturgeon breeders in the south of Caspian
Grant MSGPV-IR12-05

The continuous sharp decline of sturgeon stocks has caused serious problems in the artificial sturgeon breeding programs, which in turn has affected fingerling release and rehabilitation of stocks in the rivers entering the Caspian Sea. Decline in the number of sturgeon catch has also reduced the availability of suitable breeders for artificial breeding. Apart from this, the genetic quality and diversity of these species have also suffered. During the catch season, the sturgeon hatcheries are faced with the problem of obtaining suitable male breeders. On the other hand, there are times when the male breeders are sufficient, but the number of female breeders is insufficient and thus, the harvested sperms from these breeders are not used properly.

This project aims to collect the excess sperm from sturgeon hatcheries, preserve them for long periods of time and make them available to sturgeon hatcheries when required. Currently, a small amount of high quality sturgeon sperm is collected from suitable breeders. However, greater amount of sperm will be collected during the next spawning season. The good quality sperms are to be transferred under refrigeration conditions to the laboratory at the institute. The sperm samples are studied once again in the lab. They are then mixed with specific substances and gradually frozen through several stages in liquid nitrogen. Samples are then stored in large liquid nitrogen tanks. The stored samples are evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively for six months. As a result, sufficient amount of good quality sperms from all sturgeon species will be collected. The project is planning to buy a large liquid nitrogen tank for the collected sperms. Eventually, this project will enable all sturgeon hatcheries (government and non-government) to have access to suitable sperms and also provides grounds for international collaboration.

Project Budget: 154,990 USD  Total Grant: 30,000 USD