Russia is going to supplant Norwegian salmon from its market by offering domestic products to customers.
This is what I thought of when learned about starting of a new hatchery for Atlantic salmon by “Russian Sea” company group in the Murmansk region.??The technology, deployed at this hatchery, is planned to spread to other branches of the group located in the Barents Sea.?
As I learned, to date the complex has 12 cages measuring 38 meters in diameter and 27 meters in depth. Environment created by biologists and engineers is identical to natural conditions for wild fish.??
In the first section of “Russian Sea – Aquaculture” in the Murmansk region 1.2 million roe pieces of the salmon smolts were laid, which should grow into 4 to 5 thousand metric tons of fish by 2014 fishing season.??
Moreover, “Russian Sea” won a right to use 11 sites in the Barents Sea with potential volume of Atlantic salmon up to 40,000 metric tons of output. Adding the potentially growing volumes of trout in the White Sea and lakes of Karelia region, the overall estimated supply of salmon in all parts of the company will reach up to about 70,000 metric tons??.
According to report of the “Russian Sea” press service, it is planned to deploy areas allocated to the company in several stages. During next 5 years the company plans to work on sites in the Murmansk region for growing Atlantic salmon to bring volumes to 20,000 - 30,000 metric tons per year.??
The “Russian Sea” director Inna Golfand said that launch of the first section of the salmon hatchery in the Barents Sea is a significant event for the company, and expressed belief that overall capacity of sites along with using the most advanced technologies will allow to replace up to 50 percent of salmon currently imported to Russia from Norway.??
I would also like to note that one of main advantages of “Russian Sea” is more convenient and fast delivery of fish to its customers. Due to this fact the fish grown in the Barents Sea will be superior to the Norwegian salmon in terms of freshness and therefore more competitive.
