At present, fisheries research is coordinated by the Bandar Anzali Research Institute. The major task of the Institute is to assist in the prevention of the Caspian Sea pollution. Apart from that, its laboratories undertake a number of other tasks such as fish biology research, fish diseases studies, quality control of fish meat and caviar, studies on physico-chemical properties of water, fishing gear technology and some others.
The Institute, under the Director Mr. A. Shariati, employs a total of 85 workers, of which 30–35 are technical staff with B.Sc. or diplomas, and with long-term experience. The Institute consists of a number of research laboratories. The biological laboratory concerns itself, for example, with biology of pike perch, one of the fish species in decline. Other studies cover nutrition of fish, fish fat content, benthos and plankton studies. Work has also been initiated on fish culture in rice-fields.
The microbiology and fish diseases laboratory carries out quality control of caviar and fish (for example kilka), including routine testing. Other aspects covered by this laboratory include fish and crayfish diseases.
The limnology laboratory measures various parameters of water quality, chemical composition of fish, and chemical quality of processed fish (e.g. smoked, etc.). The chemical laboratory testing equipment is of an older type, for example mainly titration is used for chemical analysis. Although accurate, it is rather slow if a larger number of samples need to be processed, which would be the case if routine monitoring of water quality on a larger number of water bodies is undertaken. There is an urgent need for portable chemical laboratories to be used for water quality analysis directly in the field.
The fishing gear and technology laboratory, apart from working on better fishing gear and methods, also records fish landings and fishing effort and is in charge of fishery activities and regulations.
The Institute has an experimental hatchery/fish farm. This has 24 circular tanks of approximately 5 m in diameter, 16 tanks of 2 m diameter, and 6 tanks 10×3m ×80cm. This experimental farm currently experiments with crayfish and rainbow trout. It also maintains broodstock of pike perch, rainbow trout and some other fish.
A boat yard also belongs to the Institute. It constructs boats up to 30 t capacity. A boat yard workshop also makes wooden models for display and teaching purposes.
Finally, there is a library. The consultant noticed that most periodicals date from the pre-1980 period. Most books and periodicals are in the Russian language, very few in English. If this Institute is to maintain its level of research and to keep pace with work done elsewhere, the library urgently needs to be updated. With its primary purpose being assistance to research on the Caspian Sea and the Caspian basin, its Soviet literature needs to be updated. Western literature is needed especially on all types of methods and equipment. FAO could assist with the rehabilitation of the library and advise on the best information setup which could be provided with modest funding. One approach could be to initially establish information sources based on abstracting journals, such as ASFA. The Institute scientists would mark papers in which they are interested, and the librarian would request reprints from individual authors. In this way, a collection of papers directly relevant to the immediate needs could be established. Later on, the library could be connected to an information retrieval centre, which could be established either in Shilat in Tehran, or in the new Research Centre for Inland Fisheries near Ahvaz, under construction.
Once the new Center near Ahvaz exists, the function of the Bandar Anzali Research Institute will probably limit itself to the Caspian Sea and Caspian basin, including inflowing rivers, coastal lagoons, bays, reservoirs and lakes. The Ahvaz Centre then would cover research and data collection on inland waters outside the Caspian basin, with the major objective being the optimal sustained use of Iranian water bodies for fisheries. The Centre is to have at its disposal the hatchery/ fish farm facilities. Apart from the pure and applied research, it is also to function as a training centre.
