Seafood farming gathering momentum in Vladivostok

Fish industry Board of Primorye (capital Vladivostok) has come forward with an ambitious plan to develop marine culture in the area.

In March 2008 special collectors (suspended devices to collect plankton) were installed on the respective sites. As the body points out, it is important for these devices to be installed in the right place for high efficiency of seed collection.

The Primorye area has now become one the most promising regions of Russia from the point of view of aquaculture development.

The volume of aquaculture products put on the market by the local producers exceeded 1000 tonnes in 2007. The main part of the range was contributed by sea scallops (600 tonnes) and laminaria (344.9 tonnes). Also farming of mussels and oysters has been developing with the volume in 2007 amounting to 90.8 tonnes and 0.05 tonnes respectively.

The province's Government has been paying an increasing to seafood farming sector in the region. The farms are getting various forms of financial support from the local budget by the funds of the local Government. As an example in 2007 three businesses took soft credits for production development. At present, the companies spend the money building farming facilities, buying special equipment, feeds and stocking material.

Specialists in the industry say, that it is feasible to increase farming areas up to 50,000 hectares and to reach the production volume up to 750,000 tonnes per year. This will help to develop both local infrastructure and economy.