Launch of rainbow trout hatchery to diminish Russia's dependence on fry supply from Finland

A new hatchery has been commissioned in the village of Kurkieki in Karelia (Russian province bordering on Finland) to be engaged in production of rainbow trout fry as stocking material for the region's trout farms, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to Rosbalt.

According to Chairman of Karelia's Trout Farmers Union Mr. Valery Artamonov, emergence of the new fish hatchery will help decrease dependence of the republic's fish farming sector on Finnish producers of trout juveniles, who have so far been sole suppliers of the Karelian farms.

The hatchery owned by ZAO KALA-RANTA (closed jsc) has been constructed within the framework of the nation's priority project "Development of Agricultural Complex" and designed for annual production of 4.5 million juveniles. Unique technologies, including use of water recirculation plant and multi-stage processing, efficiently clean the waters from mechanic, biological and bacteriological contaminants.

So far the fish roe for the hatchery is imported from Great Britain. The next stage of the project implies culture of own brood stock for roe production. In the future the company plans to build own roe processing plant.

At present, the company has a workforce of 27 people. The volume of market-size trout farmed by the company in 2008 amounted to 300 tonnes and the new hatchery is supposed to increase trout production from 300 to 1000 tonnes per year. Besides, the hatchery's operations will lead to higher competitiveness of Karelian trout both on the domestic market and overseas.

Karelia currently produces up to 70% of commodity trout in Russia. In 2008 the republic's 48 farms produced 12,000 tonnes of fish.