BANDAR ANZALI, IRAN (AP) – It's the height of sturgeon season, when fishermen get a crack at one of the world's priciest delicacies — caviar.

But Iran's fishermen are returning to shore lucky to have caught a couple of the threatened, highly valued fish.

"We hardly make ends meet," said Hashem Bakhtaii, who makes his living on the landlocked sea shared by Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

"Once sturgeon swam the Caspian in abundance. Now, it is not the case. And some have resorted to poaching just to feed their children."

High prices for caviar have encouraged overfishing, causing a rapid decline in sturgeon in the Caspian — the source of 90 percent of the world's caviar. Overfishing since the collapse of the Soviet Union is blamed for the dwindling numbers of the once-abundant fish.

Bakhtaii said that he fears restaurants will no longer be able to serve caviar 10 years from now.

In January, the U.N. banned caviar exports by Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan because they failed to produce plans seen as realistic for protecting sturgeon.

The U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora imposed the ban based on the fear that the beluga sturgeon species is facing extinction.

Iran is the only nation bordering the Caspian with U.N. permission to export the unfertilized sturgeon eggs that are one of the world's most expensive foods.

The highest grade of caviar costs European and American consumers $75 an ounce.

Under the plan approved by the 169-nation U.N. convention, Iran will be allowed to export up to 44 tons of sturgeon eggs from the Persian species of the fish, which is concentrated in Iranian waters.

However, some say exports may not reach that level.