MOSCOW, February 29Russia, after the introduction of sanctions, increased the production of oysters and currently independently produces up to 70% of the total volume consumed by the population, said the head of Rosrybolovstvo Ilya Shestakov.
«Sanctions were introduced, and now 60-70% of oysters on the domestic market are those produced either in the Azov-Black Sea basin or in the Far East,» Shestakov said during an information marathon about the fishing industry, held at exhibition-forum «Russia».
In general, the volume of production of valuable seafood in Russia — for example, clams, urchins, mussels, oysters, scallops — has increased 5 times since 2018 and amounted to at the end of last year, 84 thousand tons.
The head of Rosrybolovstvo recalled that over the past ten years, the volume of aquaculture production has more than doubled, where the annual growth rate is about 10%. “For now we produce about 400 thousand tons, the plan is to reach a volume of 600 thousand tons by 2030,” Shestakov said.
He explained that aquaculture fish as a product is closest to the buyer, since it can be produced in other regions, and not just come from the Far East: such delivery takes a long time, the fish is mostly frozen. The most popular product now is salmon fish.
«Globally, we began to work in this area after the law on aquaculture came into force in 2014. Now a large amount of water surface has been leased out so that entrepreneurs can engage in fish farming: this gives results, but, of course, we do not forget about “to preserve the opportunities for recreational fishing,” Shestakov concluded.