Russia to develop RAS projects for land-based salmon aquaculture
Rosrybolovstvo (Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries or FAF for short), the National Association of Industrial Aquaculture Enterprises and AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies, a world leader in the field of intelligent recycling systems for onshore aquaculture, signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of fish farming development, reports Megafishnet.com.
According to FAF, several big projects on RAS aquaculture are currently being implemented in Russia. Trout is already being grown, and, starting from 2023, three Atlantic salmon farms will be put into operation with 10 thousand tons to be the total capacity when running at full swing. In May 2021, the founders of these three companies merged into the National Association of Industrial Aquaculture Enterprises to develop this segment of fish farming in Russia, introduce international environmental standards in the production process and participate in improving the industry regulatory framework.
Industrial aquaculture is the cultivation of fish or seafood in cages and other similar structures in natural reservoirs, as well as in onshore pools equipped with the recirculated aquaculture systems (RAS).
Similar projects for growing salmon in the RAS environment have been already in place in other countries. Sturgeon fish species are also grown using similar technologies - both in Russia and abroad.
Now there are only two Russian projects for Atlantic salmon culture, both enterprises are located on the Kola Peninsula and use another type of industrial aquaculture – cage farming in the Barents Sea.
In the first half of 2021, the output of farmed Atlantic salmon in Russia jumped 4.8 times compared to the same period last year – up to 14.3 thousand tons, trout – by 6.5% up to 30 thousand tons. In total, more than 300 enterprises in the country grow different salmon species (including chum salmon in the Russian Far East). Salmon farming is one of the key areas of the Strategy for the development of the fisheries complex of the Russian Federation until 2030: by this year, according to the forecast, the salmon output will reach 250 thousand tons.
The memorandum within the framework of the Global Fisheries Forum & Seafood Expo Russia 2021 was signed by Ilya Shestakov, Head of Rosrybolovstvo, Leonid Goldstein, co-founder and Director of AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies for the CIS countries, and Vladimir Mazanov, Executive Director of the National Association of Industrial Aquaculture Enterprises.
"There is an explosive growth of industrial salmon farming in Russia. Within five years, its volumes have almost tripled, and the share in the total production structure has exceeded 30%, which allowed replacing a significant part of imports. We expect that in the next few years, the main needs of the Russian market for Atlantic salmon and trout products will be covered by domestic production," Ilya Shestakov said.
Within the framework of this cooperation, AquaMaof will provide comprehensive support in the promotion of modern technologies in the field of industrial aquaculture and their implementation at Russian farms. Thus, the onshore aquaculture will help meet the constantly growing market demand for healthy natural food and protein, Leonid Goldstein noted.
"The use of AquaMaof's unique RAS technologies, as well as the company's global experience in large-scale industrial projects of land–based aquaculture, will allow Russian enterprises to achieve maximum production efficiency and produce healthy products grown in an ideal environment, in accordance with international standards," commented Vladimir Mazanov.