March 8, 2016

 

Russian aquaculture far below its potential, USDA report says

 

 

According to a USDA report, Russia's share of world aquaculture production is estimated at only 0.2%. Lack of government support, outdated equipment and production technologies, as well as insufficient feed, were cited as main setbacks to further development of the sector.

 

There is some relief that the country has ample water resources that are suitable for aquaculture development, such as nearly half a million hectares of offshore sea strips, and more than one million hectares of agricultural ponds. Moreover, the total area of offshore strips in the Barents, White, Azov, Black, Caspian and Far Eastern seas is estimated at 38 million hectares.

 

Currently, fish farms occupy only about 110,000 hectares of fisheries ponds, and 25,000 hectares of offshore strips are for aquaculture production. The top three Russian regions for aquaculture production in 2015 were: the Southern Federal District (FD) with production of 53,200 tonnes of fish, followed by the North-Western FD at 47,800 tonnes and the Central FD at 27,000 tonnes.

 

According to the Federal Fisheries Agency (FFA), aquaculture production reached 160,000 tonnes in 2015 or 30,000 tonnes less than projected in the state programme "On the Development of Fisheries Sector until 2020." The Programme sets an objective for aquaculture production to reach 315,000 tonnes by 2020.

 

Reaching this goal would require an unrealistic 97% increase from now till 2020, considering that in the 2004 to 2015 period reported, production of aquaculture fish increased just 47%. Carp is the main fish species raised in Russia, with an annual production of 110,000 tonnes in 2014.

 

Businesses were skeptical about the 2015 Russian government proposals for development of the aquaculture sector, even after financial support was allocated from the federal budget.

 

That said, two major companies are making significant investments in the development of aquaculture – Russian Sea and Russian Salmon. The company Russian Sea had started two salmon production facilities in recent years, and a trout farm in Karelia. Russia Sea is expected to produce 30,000 tonnes by 2018.

 

Most recently, Russian Salmon signed an investment contract with the local Murmansk government for the investment in a number of fish hatcheries in the coastal areas of the Barents and White Seas. The company expects production capacity for Atlantic Salmon to reach 80,000 to 100,000 tonnes.

 

However in the autumn of 2015, several Russian Salmon production facilities were affected by an infectious anemia and mycrobacteriosis, reportedly causing the death of 187,000 salmon. The company's loss was estimated at 3.5 billion rubles and it subsequently declared bankruptcy.

 

Most experts believe that given the current economic environment, development of the aquaculture sector can only happen with further financial support from the government. They estimate that the initial capital needed for the sector is 1.5 billion, versus the 400 million ruble allocation made by the government.

 

Source: www.fis.com