MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGIES OF AQUACULTURE IN THE SOUTH OF RUSSIA

Gennady G. Matishov* and Elena N. Ponomareva
Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SSC RAS)
41 Chekhov Street, Rostov-on-Don, 344006 Russia,
e-mail: icd@ssc-ras.ru
 

The Southern Federal District of Russia (SFD) is characterized by the most favourable natural and climatic conditions for fish farming, and is the region where all directions of production should be developed: pond fish farming, fish farming in warm waters of power plants, trout farming in the foothills, pasture fish farming in lakes, estuaries, and water storage reservoirs.

The volume of production of fish farming in the South of Russia in 2016 increased to 73.7 thousand tons (in general in the country - 173.9 thousand tons). The main fish farming objects are carp, herbivorous fish species, trout, paddlefish, and sturgeon species, and rarely farmed objects are buffalo, catfish, and tilapia.

Promising directions of aquaculture development in the southern regions of Russia are:

  • pasture aquaculture - one of the promising directions to obtain products of aquatic life when using bioproduction capacity of water bodies;
  • pond aquaculture - one of the directions using pond areas and extensive technologies to obtain commercial fish products;
  • industrial forms of fish farming (in cages, tanks, RAS, and other fish breeding capacities), which have received intensive development in the SFD in recent years;
  • recreational aquaculture - the cultivation of objects for sport and recreational fishing;
  • mariculture (of great potential in the SFD) - cultivation of marine hydrobionts.

Intensive technologies of cultivation of marketable fish and fish stocking material, with the release of 17-24 metric centners/ha, should be used in the southern regions of Russia. The main objects of pond fish farming in the southern regions are carp and herbivorous fish species. In recent years there has been a trend of broadening species diversity of farmed fish both at the expense of native fish species (tench, pike, catfish, crucian carp, pike-perch, and perch) and the use of previously acclimatized species: channel catfish, so-iuy mullet, paddlefish, and buffalo.

Commercial fish farming in Russia is developed within the following areas: cage fish farms in warm waters and in water bodies with natural water temperature; tank fish farms using fresh, brackish, and salt water; fish farming in RAS, which is of special attention (both the development and improvement of technologies of hydrobionts' farming).

Research organizations have developed and successfully implemented a number of scientific and technical solutions, new biotechnologies of sturgeon breeding at fish farms in the South of Russia. High plasticity and adaptability of sturgeon species allow using practically all types of farms, including cages (warm water and marine), ponds, tank systems, and RASs for commercial sturgeon breeding. A comprehensive biotechnology for the production of environmentally friendly sturgeon fish products, which also allows eliminating climatic risks, has been developed at SSC RAS.

The "green" technologies have become widespread in recent years as they envisage the general environmental management (control over water and air pollution, industrial wastes), energy production from renewable sources (solar energy, biofuel), and reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

Thus, fish farming technologies in the South of Russia can both quantitatively increase the production volumes of live fish and reduce the costs within a short-term period. The introduction of new aquaculture objects and expansion of the range of farmed fish species in the southern regions of Russia will allow increasing the production potential of fish farming.