Aqua Group is adding the growing list of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) aquaculture facilities in Russia.
The company is investing RUB 4 billion (USD 54.8 million, EUR 46.2 million) through 2024 into the construction of an RAS farm to raise rainbow trout in Kashira, 120 kilometers from Moscow.
Aqua Group is currently finalizing the design of the farm, though it said construction will start towards the end of the year, with the first phase projected to be completed in the end of 2021. The first phase of the project will create capacity to raise 2,500 metric tons (MT) of trout annually, with that total rising to 5,000 MT of trout annually once all phases of the project are fully completed, estimated for 2024.
Aqua Group was established a year ago by Dmitry Mochalov, who is also the company’s CEO, and Sergey Botov, the owner of 95 percent of the company’s shares.
Moscow Regional Minister of Agriculture Andrey Razin said Aqua Group has signed a lease inside the Kashira Special Economic Zone. At just a one-hour drive from Moscow and a few hours from St. Petersburg, the company has access to two nation’s biggest consumers markets with highly developed gastronomic scenes, Razin said. Its location, and its ability to provide restaurants a steady supply of premium trout year-round due to its RAS technology, gives Aqua Group an advantage over its competitors, Razin said.
“Salmon is being farmed in Russia in open waters or in ponds resulting in the seasonal availability of farmed trout for consumers in the time period from September to December,” Razin said in a press release. “Aqua Group will make it available throughout the year.”
Aquaculture is on the rise in Russia as the federal government seeks a new avenue for growth and to better provide more affordable, quality fish for the domestic market. In 2019, Russia produced 248,300 MT of farmed fish, up nearly 20 percent from 2018.
A number of RAS farms have either been built or announced recently, with Aquaproduct building an RAS facility in Vologda that will produce 2,500 MT of Atlantic salmon annually, and F-Trout operating a 500-MT trout farm outside of Moscow. Both farms contracted with AquaMaof Technologies to supply the farm design and equipment.
Photo courtesy of AquaMaof
