Karelia boosting trout production

By the end of the current year 2006 production of commodity trout in the Republic of Karelia is forecasted to reach 6000 tonnes thus exceeding the last year result by 20%, deputy minister of the republic’s agriculture, fisheries and ecology Ivan Zubarev reported at the meeting of the local government on 25 September 2006.

According to Ivan Zubarev, the annual production of farmed trout in Karelia can exceed the level of 10,000 metric tons by the year 2010. During the recent 13 years the output of farmed fish in Karelia has jumped 11-fold and at present the region’s share in the total nation’s production of farmed trout has considerably increased.

Dynamic development of Karelia aquaculture has been encouraged by support from the local authorities. In particular, annual loans from the budget aimed at supporting fishery, fish farming and fish processing in Karelia have grown to RUR2.2 million. Besides, in the current year 2006 for the first time Karelia government has earmarked RUR96,700 so that local fish farming companies could partly compensate their costs for the purchase of machines and equipment.

Outlook

According to Prime-Minister of Karelia Government, further development of trout culture in the republic will require more precise guidelines therefore the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Ecology has been entrusted to prepare new proposals to encourage another boost in the production of farmed trout and stocking material which is now purchased mainly on the international market.

At the meeting on 25 September 2006 Karelia Government looked at the process of implementation of the republic’s program on fishery industry development up to the year 2010. According to deputy minister Ivan Zubarev, currently the local fishery industry is represented by 297 companies and sole entrepreneurs including 64 fishing entities, 6 onshore fish processing companies, 197 sole entrepreneurs and 29 cage farms.

Trout culture remains one of the priority trends for Karelia’s fishery industry in its inland waters. Now Karelia claims that it farms about 70% of Russian trout, though this figure must be actually smaller because of poor monitoring of newly emerging farms by the federal government. The design capacity of Karelia’s existing farms exceeds 6500 tonnes. In the year 2005 trout farms of Karelia cultured 5300 tonnes of commodity trout and stocking material, which was 900 tonnes up on the level of the previous year 2004.

At the same time the republic has been encouraging emergence of new fish farms. In particular, in 2005 another two trout farms were commissioned in Karelia: OOO Nord-ZeudRybprom (ltd) in the Onega Lake and OOO Forel Suoyarvi (ltd) in the Paleostrovsky Monastery. Introduction of new trout farms and expansion of existing sites are expected to give a further boost to the region’s farmed trout output by another 20% in the year 2006.

The target of developing trout farming in Karelia has been emphasized by Prime-Minister of the republic’s government Pavel Chernov. The man has pointed out that now many farms do need extra subsidies from the government. In the meantime, trout prices have been growing with the product enjoying a strong demand in Karelia and beyond it.