Murmansk salmons go for expansion of production facilities

Murmansk salmon farms have ambitious plans for expansion on the agenda, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to Promurman.

The plans are going to be implemented by the main participants of the region's program on commodity aquaculture development, namely ZAO Russky Losos (closed jsc) and OOO Gigante Pechenga (ltd). Currently in the bays of Ambarnaya and Pechenga on the Barents Sea coast these companies have four marine farms annually growing ca.1000 Atlantic salmon juveniles, the volume in its turn providing an output of more than 3000 tonnes of market-size fish. In 2009 the companies are planning to purchase and install 14 extra cages, a dumb barge with the automatic feeding system and to import several millions of salmon fry and up to 4000 tonnes of special fish feeds.

However, so far frontier clearance of such cargoes imported to the region is possible only in Murmansk Port located at the distance of 120 nautical miles from main production facilities. Therefore, compliance with this requirement results into large expenses of the producers, a greater risk of equipment damage when transported in the Barents Sea and Kola Bay and a resulting death of fish fry.

In order to solve the problem the region's governor Dmitry Dmitrienko has asked First Deputy Chairman of Russia's Government Viktor Zubkov to open a marine check point in Liinahamari harbour where the vessels could clear such perishable cargoes as fish fry and fish feeds imported by the region's salmon and trout farms in the waters of the Ambarnaya and Pechenga bays thus avoiding a call at remoter Murmansk Fish Port.