Private investors are interested in creating a fish hatchery in Primorye

Primorye scientists have substantiated the possibility of building a private plant for the industrial reproduction of salmon. The enterprise will be able to produce up to 10 million juveniles. Fishermen hope that the implementation of the project will increase the catch of valuable fish. Experts believe that to organize profitable industrial fishing, it is necessary to build at least 10–15 similar enterprises. In the Khabarovsk Territory, where the construction of 13 similar plants is planned for the coming years, neighbors support the idea.

During a meeting of the biological section of the TINRO-Center, which took place the day before in Vladivostok, scientists confirmed the possibility of building an enterprise for the industrial cultivation of chum salmon on the Verbnaya River in the Primorsky Territory. The estimated capacity of the salmon hatchery can be up to 10 million specimens. “Currently there is no stable population on the river. However, an analysis of the water showed that it meets all the requirements of fish farming,” said Viktor Markovtsev, leading researcher at the laboratory for technical support of hydrobiont reproduction processes at the TINRO Center. According to him, the enterprise will catch more than 250 tons of fish per year.

If the project can be implemented, it will be the first private salmon plant in Primorye, TINRO-Center notes. Currently, there are more than 300 private salmon factories in the Asia-Pacific region, and more than 20 private enterprises are successfully operating on Sakhalin. Their contribution to the release of juvenile salmon is 32.5%. Thanks to the activities of the factories, the chum salmon catch on Sakhalin has increased tenfold in recent years. In Primorye there are two state fish hatcheries for the reproduction of salmon.

Market participants support the scientists’ initiative. According to the chairman of the Primorets collective farm, Pyotr Gordienko, industrial cultivation of salmon will allow in the future to increase the catch of this valuable fish in the region and bring the business into the profitability zone. “Today, in the Primorye subzone, fishermen catch only about a thousand tons. The main catch (more than 300 thousand tons) is provided by Sakhalin and Kamchatka. We

We mainly work there at the reception. It’s not profitable to go fishing in Primorye,” Mr. Gordienko told Kommersant. According to him, for fishing to be economically justified, the vessel must be provided with at least 200 tons of fish. At the same time, market participants note that the main profitability of salmon fishing is based on caviar, and not on the fish itself. The wholesale cost of a kilogram of red caviar on Sakhalin is 1.5 thousand rubles, the cost of a kilogram of pink salmon upon receipt at Sakhalin factories ranges from 25 to 35 rubles, in Vladivostok the same kilogram costs from 70 rubles.

Experts believe that the construction of the plant is quite justified, but the creation of one enterprise cannot solve the general problem of the industry. “Big business is not interested in the current low potential catch rates,” said Alexander Vaskov, vice-president of the Association of Fisheries Enterprises of Primorye. According to experts, at least 10–15 salmon factories with an annual return of 7–11 thousand tons need to be built on the rivers of Primorye. “These are completely different numbers and different profitability. Then we can talk about full-fledged industrial fishing,” said Mr. Vaskov.

The Fisheries Committee of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Khabarovsk Territory says that the feasibility of such projects is beyond doubt. The head of the committee, Sergei Ryabchenko, explained that three state and two private fish factories for salmon reproduction are already operating in the region. In 2010, according to the regional Ministry of Natural Resources, they produced about 80 million juveniles. “But we see how natural spawning grounds on rivers are being depleted. In addition, the fish population is declining due to poachers or man-made reasons,” added Mr. Ryabchenko. According to the regional program “Reproduction of aquatic biological resources until 2020”, it is planned to attract about 50 million rubles for the construction of a salmon fish hatchery in the Sovgavansky district (design capacity - 30 million pieces of free-running juvenile chum salmon, coho salmon, masu salmon). private investment, a fish factory on the Mai River in the Sovgavan district (20 million juveniles of coastal chum salmon) is valued at 75 million rubles. In total, the authorities of the Khabarovsk Territory intend to attract 3.099 billion rubles from the federal budget and investor funds for 13 planned plants for the production of juveniles of various breeds by 2015. “Today, the Khabarovsk Territory ranks second after Sakhalin in the field of industrial fish cultivation,” notes Mr. Ryabchenko. “But it is already obvious that volumes in the region should grow. This is a perspective that is advocated by the “greens”, the fishermen, and the authorities.”

Ksenia Pisareva, Vladivostok; Vadim Pasmurtsev

Chum salmon was distributed to the plant