The Tomsk company will produce the first batch of black caviar in 2021

TOMSK, Oct 2 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk Research and Production Fish Breeding Complex plans to produce and supply to local stores about 50 kilograms of black caviar in 2021; by 2025 the complex intends to increase the production of caviar to 200 kilograms, the executive director of the complex Gleb Kinyov told reporters on Friday.

Earlier it was reported that the modernized sturgeon and whitefish breeding complex opened on October 2 in the village of Kopylovo, Tomsk district.

The enterprise plans to grow up to 35 tons of marketable fish and up to 5.3 million tons of young fish per year. The total cost of the modernization project, which was carried out in 2019-2020, - is 15 million rubles, of which equipment was purchased for 10 million rubles, another 5 million - is the cost of construction work. The company also planned to launch a line for the production of black caviar.

Black delicacy

"Next year (2021), production (of black caviar) will begin. Since the fish is kept "in a state of summer" (at a water temperature of 22 degrees - Ed.), It grows and ripens faster. Sterlet producers ripen twice a year. We expected to produce about 200 kilograms per year, but this will be by 2025, when we reach full capacity. In the meantime - it is about 50 kilograms per year", - Kinyov said.

Fish of my dreams

On the territory of the fish complex near one of the petrochemical lakes in the vicinity of the village of Kopylovo, there is a two-storey combined-use workshop: on the ground floor there are pools with adult marketable fish, on the second there is an incubation-larval fry module, where eggs are incubated.

Fish for sale are also found in the lake. By the way, anyone can come here for a fishing trip and catch a sturgeon.

 According to the executive director, the complex has been modernized based on the technology of closed water supply installations. With their help, the temperature of 22 degrees in fish pools is maintained, the water is saturated with oxygen and purified with polypropylene granules.

"They (granules) serve as a platform for colonization of bacteria that decompose organic products, such a biological treatment is obtained", - Kinyov explained.

Thanks to warm water the fish grows faster and "ripens".

"We sell the fry to other fish farms. We will release some of the fry into their natural habitat. We have not only the Ob sturgeon, but also the Yenisei sturgeon breeds that can be released on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. And we will (sell) commercial fish through fish processors", - Kinyov specified. 

Let out

According to the Governor of the Tomsk region Sergey Zhvachkin, over the 10 years of its existence, the enterprise has released more than 100 million fry into water bodies.

“We are the only region in Siberia whose fishermen can take out a license and, without fear of inspection, fish valuable species”, - the head of the region commented.

The executive director said that the company conducts local experiments, in particular, with fish feed. For example, the complex together with the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat has been conducting an experiment on the use of phytogenic preparations in feeding for three years. This preparation increases the "vitality" of the fry and allows them to grow faster.

 Over the past few years, the enterprise has created its own broodstock of Siberian sturgeon (including the Yenisei subspecies), Ob sterlet, Kama sterlet and Sarboyan carp.

Kinyov noted that this year a herd of muksun was launched into the pools, and peled is also growing here. And in 2021, the company plans to purchase a herd of nelma, since this fish is in demand among the population.

Market prospects

Now the enterprise supplies its products only to the counters of the Tomsk region, but is already thinking about the prospects for entering the international market.

"It is interesting to talk with China on the topic of export. But first we need to pass certification in bioproducts, and if everything is successful, one can export fish and caviar to them. We plan to reach full capacity for fish production - up to 35 tons - in two years", - he commented.

System help

“We have helped, we are helping and will help, in the near future we will hold a meeting on the prospects, we will help - on the roads, equipment. Because this business is at the origin of many other areas. Live fish should appear in stores so that everyone can buy pure high-quality fish of our production", - Zhvachkin said.

He recalled that in 2020 in the Tomsk region in the village of Predtechensk, a fish processing plant "Rybnaya Tema" ("Fish Theme") was opened, a fish canning plant "Aleksandrovskie konservy" ("Alexander canned food") was launched in the north of the region. Earlier it was reported that both projects were implemented, including thanks to financial support from the regional budget.

In general, over six years the regional authorities have allocated almost 120 million rubles for the fish industry enterprises, which were spent on the purchase of equipment, feed and fish seed.

The Tomsk Research and Production Fish Breeding Complex also received financial support. According to the press service of the regional administration, from 2014 to 2020, the regional budget allocated 12 million rubles to the enterprise, including almost 9 million for the purchase of fish farming equipment, 1.9 million for feed, 1 million for fish seed and another 200 thousand rubles for reclamation work.

The authorities expect that this complex will allow restoring the population of valuable fish species in the Ob basin, including those listed in the Red Book, creating their own genetically pure broodstock of fish, developing fishing tourism and attracting amateur fishermen from other regions of Siberia.

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Earlier it was reported that the Tomsk Research and Production Fish Breeding Complex rented the Kudrovsky watered quarry, and in 2018 built an incubation workshop there for growing whitefish and sturgeon with its own funds. In order to reproduce fish, the enterprise has carried out the selection of eggs and incubation from artificially raised Siberian sturgeons. The company is also engaged in trout farming.

According to the information and analytical system "SPARK-Interfax", LLC "Tomsk Research and Production Fish Breeding Complex" was registered in Seversk in 2010. At the end of 2019, the company received a net profit of 2.5 million rubles. The company is 100% owned by Tomsk businessman Victor Kinyov, who also owns the production of plastic packaging, restaurant, hotel business and others.