Massive sale of new aquaculture sites by auction in Russia

Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery (FAF) and its territorial divisions have announced plans to conduct auctions for 143 aquaculture sites with a total area of 22 thousand hectares in the near future, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to FAF, most of the auctions will take place during the current summer.

The largest water areas put up for auction are located in the Ural Federal District with 65 fish-breeding sites totaling 17.8 thousand hectares. In the South 59 sites will be auctioned with an area of 3.2 thousand hectares while in the North-West 11 sites with an area of 398 hectares will be put up for sale.

The formation and distribution of new sites for aqua and marine culture at auctions for investors on a single basis began in the regions of Russia after the entry into force of the Law on Aquaculture. The volume of commercial aquaculture production has more than doubled in 10 years amounting to 328.6 thousand tons in 2020. Compared to 2019, the increase was 14%.

According to the Strategy for the Development of the Fisheries Sector, by 2030 Russia plans to increase the volume of aquaculture output to almost 620 thousand metric tons. Meanwhile, to support investors, the regulatory framework and state support measures are being improved.

In total, to date, 5.58 thousand sites with a total area of 660 thousand hectares have been distributed to fish farmers in the waters of the Russian Federation.

The largest water areas for growing aquaculture products are provided in the Urals (220 thousand hectares), the Far East (90.8 thousand hectares), the South of Russia (56.8 thousand hectares), Siberia (49 thousand hectares) and the North-West (30.5 thousand hectares).