Caspian sturgeons will still not be included in the 2011 edition of the Red Data Book of Turkmenistan. The assessment of species to be included has already been conducted by national experts, and has been confirmed by the Minister of Nature Protection. The new edition, which is an important achievement in itself, will reportedly use the current IUCN threat categories. However, these categories have been assigned based on expert opinion rather than the internationally established IUCN assessment criteria, a factor which reduces the objectiveness, transparency and hence usefulness of the resulting edition of the Red Data Book.