Commercial harvesting of Russian sturgeon in the Sea of Azov may be resumed due to the growth in population over the past four years. In 2024, nearly 7 million Russian sturgeon juveniles were released, the highest number in 10 years, according to the Azov-Black Sea branch of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO). According to the organization, before 1991, the Azov basin's contribution to the total global sturgeon catch was more than 5%. After the collapse of the USSR and the destruction of the protection and reproduction system of fish resources in the Sea of Azov, as well as the intensification of illegal and unregulated fishing, sturgeons lost their commercial significance. By 2000, a complete ban on their harvesting was introduced to prevent complete extinction. "The estimates made by scientists provide grounds for starting a discussion on the resumption of commercial exploitation in the coming years, for now only in relation to the Russian ...