Oyster and mussel farm to be built in Crimea

A large oyster and mussel farm will be built near Yevpatoriya (Western Crimea). The project is backed by investments from Rostov-based Azovo-Donskaya Osetrovaya Kompania (AZDOK), reports www.megafishnet.com.

Last year was spent for necessary consents and agreements with authorities. In 2017 the investor won the right to lease 108 hectares of the Black Sea in the area where the Donuzlav Lake connects with the sea. The farm will be located one kilometer offshore.

In 2019 the project will enter its first stage worth ca.120 million RUR to fund construction of onshore facilities and entry into the sea with installation of 10 collectors. In May 2019 the farm will start stocking mussels in the collectors and in October later this year the first million of oysters will be stocked.

Next year the farm will get another 30 collectors. The total number of collectors to be installed during the 3-year period of the project’s implementation will amount to 90. When it starts running at full swing, the farm will produce 300 metric tons of mussels and 5.5 million oysters per year.

Nowadays in the Russian part of the Black Sea there are some 12 farms growing mussels and oysters, though their total production capacity is as tiny as ca.1.5 million mollusks. The nation’s Far East Fishery Basin hosts a lot of similar farms catering for the Asian markets.

Actually oysters and mussels are not subject of Russia’s countersanctions, therefore Russian restaurants and retail chains have continued importing fairly big consignments of such products from Norway, Finland, New Zealand and other countries. And the new farm is going to compete with foreign suppliers for its niche on the domestic market.

Polyculture

In the long term future AZDOK is planning to use its experience in sturgeon farming and install fish cages for parallel culture of oysters/mussels and sturgeon. Polyculture of sturgeon and mussels/oysters will be advantageous for the both sides. The sturgeon waste will become an additional feed for the mollusks, which, in their in turn, will filter the water where sturgeon is grown.