Urmia Lake is home to a unique species known as Artemia urmiana. Only extremely salty waters, where no other aquatic life exists, are suitable for this organism's survival. Due to its high nutritional value and deliciousness for aquatic creatures in open waters and other seas where fish can live, this unique organism would be quickly hunted down and destroyed by aquatic creatures such as fish, prawns, crabs, etc., which is why this unique organism can only defend itself in extremely salty waters; in other words, it can be said that these waters are an essential component of their defence mechanism, which no other organism is able to survive in.
Because of Artemia urmiana's high nutritional content, it is crucial for the spawning of sturgeon fish, prawns and crabs. According to specialists, in the state of water balance of Urmia Lake, its Artemia reserve and its Artemia cysts (eggs) weigh more than 20,000 tonnes, and if scientific care is taken of the lake, they will weigh much more than this.
Millions of dollars can be made each year just from catching and selling artemia and its cysts, given that the value of each kilogramme of artemia cyst in international markets ranges from 50-300 dollars depending on its quality, and the value of each kilogramme of artemia is 140-200 dollars depending on its quality.
Apart from exporting, one can generate millions of dollars by investing in the lake's marginal lands to breed sturgeon fish and selling caviar, prawns and crabs. This will also provide jobs for the unemployed youth in the area.
