Fishing Industry in Russia - Aquaculture

Aquaculture

Over sixty species of fish, invertebrates and seaweed are commercially cultivated by aquaculture or fish farming in Russia. Aquaculture is based mainly on buffalo, grass and silver carp, rainbow trout, scallops, mussels and laminaria. In 2007 there were 300 aquaculture enterprises.

Aquaculture can be freshwater or marine (mariculture):

• Freshwater aquaculture – occurs northwest of European Russia where a lot of trout are farmed, in the Far East, and south of Siberia. Production 2003 to 2006 was about 100,000 tonnes.

• Mariculture – occurs mainly in Primorye Province on the coast of the Sea of Japan. In 2006, marine farms in Primorye covered 10,000 hectares, which produces 1,340 tonnes, mainly of Laminaria, blue mussel and the scallop Mizuhopecten yessoensis.

Potential development areas for freshwater aquaculture include 960,000 hectares of agricultural water bodies, 143,000 hectares of ponds, plus other areas in big lakes and water reservoirs suitable for cage farming. The National Project on Agricultural Sector development (Federal Agency of Fishery, 2006) has set a target for 2020 of 1.4 million tonnes from freshwater aquaculture and 400 thousand tonnes from mariculture. The federal government is considering a subsidy of two-thirds of the credit needed to construct and modernise aquaculture facilities.