The few rivers discharging into the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan are not major sturgeon spawning areas, but the Turkmen coast between Esenguly and Ogurchinsky Island is a key wintering area for them and other fish, as well as a regular habitat of the Caspian seal. Annual sturgeon catches throughout the Caspian declined from > 25,000 t in the 1970s to 470 t in 2000. Sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea is now forbidden and there are no significant sturgeon spawning rivers in Turkmenistan, so there is no official sturgeon fishery there. Turkmenistan has had zero CITES export quotas for sturgeon products since 2007.