Alexander Savelyev, the committee's public relations officer, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying no permits were issued to export black caviar since 2005.
The committee was responding to a statement Monday by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) calling for a ban on black caviar exports.
"Commercial sturgeon fishing has been banned in Russia since 2002, the news agency quoted Savelyev as saying. "There are quotas only for the replenishment of breeding stock at fish farms and for scientific research."
Russia's legal caviar production cannot exceed nine tons a year and, of that amount, only reject caviar that cannot be used for research purposes can go on sale but can't be exported, said Savelyev.
Russia
