Kazakhstan has blocked an attempted procurement of sturgeon caviar worth nearly 150 million tenge by a state-owned enterprise in the Atyrau region.

The Atyrau Sturgeon Breeding Plant had announced plans to purchase caviar from third-party suppliers for 147.4 million tenge - despite legal restrictions prohibiting such transactions, The Caspian Post reports via Kazakh media.

Under Kazakhstan’s law on wildlife protection, state-run fish farms are required to obtain caviar independently by maintaining broodstock and breeding young fish, rather than buying it externally.

Prosecutors intervened and canceled the procurement, preventing the misuse of public funds.

Following prosecutorial oversight, the purchase was canceled, and budget funds totaling 147 million tenge were preserved.

The Atyrau Sturgeon Breeding Plant plays a critical role in preserving sturgeon populations in the Caspian basin. It breeds species such as beluga, Russian sturgeon, ship sturgeon, and stellate sturgeon, releasing millions of juvenile fish annually into the Ural River and the Caspian Sea. Many of these species are listed as endangered.