Sturgeon fly in to world's largest RAS farm and caviar factory

Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad Crystal Cargo has delivered 22 live, farm-raised sturgeon for the world's biggest caviar factory being built in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The adult sturgeon fish were flown from Frankfurt Hahn Airport to Abu Dhabi and then transported to a new 60,000 sq meter state of the art farm recently commissioned for rearing sturgeon and production of caviar in the UAE, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to AquaFeed.Com.

Bin Salem Holding and United Food Technologies AG (UFT) of Germany are working together on the development of the sturgeon farm and caviar factory. This aquaculture project sets special standards in many respects. Not just that the world's largest recirculating aquaculture system for sturgeon and the production of premium caviar has been built in Abu Dhabi, but the project requires exceptional logistical effort. Starting with first sea and air freight shipments, a total of 140 tons of live fish will be transported from Europe to the capital of the United Arab Emirates by sea and air using internally developed, complex processes.

In order to avoid having to wait for a full growth period of about 4 to 4.5 years, older and therefore larger fish are transported alive. Thus the first premium caviar is expected to be produced by the end of 2011. The final stage of the plant is designed for a capacity of 32 tons of premium quality caviar per year and an annual production of 490 tons of sturgeon - a scale which were previously unknown in the production of premium caviar from aquaculture. This project represents the first plant of its kind in the Middle East and the largest recirculation plant worldwide.