by Andrei BOGERUK, Dr. Sc. (Biol.), Federal Selection and Genetics Center of Aquaculture, Fish-Breeding and Oceanography, Moscow; Zhanna DERGALEVA, department head; Alexander YEFIMOV, Cand. Sc. (Biol.)

The percentage of aquaculture in the overall volume of the world's fish industry has climbed from 3.9 percent to 29 percent in the past 30 years. Since the mid-1980s the annual increment of aquacultural products has been averaging 8 percent, with the volume of catches in natural bodies of water remaining level in practical terms. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) forecasts that by the year 2030 the breeding of hydrobionts (aquatic organisms) will be as productive as catches from native hydrobionic populations. What about the situation in this country?

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Over many years aquaculture has been relegated to a secondary role here largely due to large volumes offish catches in seas and oceans. But lately the catches have dropped to 3 - 3.3 mln tons annually, while the percentage of fish bred on aqua farms is still about 5 percent of the total output and something like 0.2 to 0.3 percent of the produce of global aquaculture industry.

GROUNDS FOR OPTIMISM

And yet our country has a high potential for the development of aquaculture. We have a large number of freshwater ponds and off-shore sea water areas coupled with diverse climatic conditions. All this accounts for a wealth of our ichthyofauna (fish population), including its most valued species. Of the world's 26 sturgeon species eleven are found in Russia.

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"Home-grown" fish is much in demand because of relatively low costs. The same is true of costly sturgeon, salmon and common white fish, and of oysters and mussels, though not a traditional diet of our people. All this provides favorable conditions for the further development offish-farming. Our biologists and ichthyologists have come up with original methods and techniques for fish breeding tested in practice. These technologies allow to preserve and expand the species makeup of fish populations, and at the same time to improve the ecological condition of water bodies.

There is a growing public awareness of the importance of aquaculture as a supplier of quality protein for the population (a major consideration for the nation's food security); this factor is understood at the government level. That is why aquaculture figures in the priority national

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project for the development of the agroindustrial complex.

By tradition Russia is in for several types of aquaculture. The technology of the artificial breeding of young fishes and other hydrobionts in sea- and fresh-water bodies of water (this technology was developed in the 1930s and 1940s) as well as the network of specialized fisheries helped save sturgeon fish, a unique population of the ichthyofauna and our national wealth, from total extinction. The salmon fish of the Far East and European Russia have been cultivated this way, too, in a mode known as pasturing. In the closing decades of the 20th century white fish and carp (cyprinoids) became another object of such cultivation because of the declining numbers in their natural populations.

Cyprinoids and herbivorous fishes* are grown in ponds on artificial fodder: today 20 productive species have been registered and included in the State List of selectionist achievements. For commercial purposes valuable (high-cost) varieties are cultivated in large pools (ponds) and hatcheries at high population density, and fed mixed fodder. Simultaneously, recreational small-scale fish-breeding is gaining popularity among people-in small ponds or pools in the backyard or garden, or in lakes within anglers' reach. Marine hydrobionts (above all mollusks and other invertebrates) are reared in special offshore hatcheries.

CARP FAMILY BACKING DOWN

Every country has its own practices and objects of aquaculture depending on national diets and traditions, consumption or export priorities. The French are fond of oysters, mussels and turbot**, while in Denmark people prefer European eel, and in Norway-noble salmon. Here in Russia (ever since the Soviet times) and in most East European countries carp-breeding has been in the lead. Other fish varieties are much behind in output. The carp-breeding trend had been dominant up until the 1990s, when the further cultivation of this "champion" turned unprofitable because of the shortage of home-made quality mixed fodder and high-cost import feeds, and high power costs.

Our ichthyologists are pinning hopes on pasture farming with a minimum of human interference at the earliest stages offish-breeding. Another focus is on intensive technologies in the output of valuable fish having a good export potential, sturgeon and salmon first and foremost.

However, intensive cultivation of hydrobionts is impossible in the absence of innovational potential and fish management know-how. Leading research institutes have developed high-intensity technologies for most valued piscine species, and such technologies are being introduced in practice. One technology has proved of much success for raising productive shoals of sturgeon fish under controlled condition: it incorporates a com-

* See: A. Bagrov, A. Bogeruk, "Herbivorous Fishes: Experience of Acclimation". Science in Russia, No. 6, 2005. - Ed.

** Turbot-a variety of flatfish. - Auth.

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plex of best achievements of Russian ichthyologists. Our research center has created a unique fertile sturgeon hybrid (beluga and sterlet) dubbed bester*, and it gave rise to another three fish varieties - Vnirovskaya, Burtsevskaya and Aksaiskaya - already patented in this country. In addition, we are using our method of early sex diagnostics and our technology (patented in Russia) of extracting sturgeon roe in vivo (for food, too).

A pilot fishery was commissioned at Dzerzhynsk near Moscow for the intensive breeding of sturgeon fish for caviar. This fishery draws upon the latest world achievements in the use of resource-saving technologies. Mechanical and biological filtration of water as well as water heating and oxygenation, and elimination of excess iron makes it possible to cut water consumption and ensure optimal breeding conditions.

Our modular complex has a spawning school of three bester breeds. Our techniques allow to cut the pubescence period of sturgeon fish from 7 - 12 years (an ordinary term for natural temperature regimes) to 3 - 4 years. The closed water supply system and the rational pattern of components and operational characteristics make this complex customized for regions of different ecological features. At least three similar commercial fisheries are slated for construction in Moscow as well in the Moscow and Kaluga regions for caviar output.

GET USED TO EEL AND TYLAPIA**

Plans are afoot to expand the range of species cultivated in the above-mentioned complexes. The European eel and tylapia fishes hold out good promise in this respect. Tylapia has made its way into our domestic market where it can supplant imports. Its simple ways versus the environment and frugal consumption of lipids and protein (compared with sturgeon and salmon fish) plus good consumer qualities (no intercostal bones, good taste) and optimal market value makes it an adequate object for cultivation in closed water-supply systems.

As to the European eel, it combines good consumer qualities with a high export potential. The EU European Commission has proposed to list it among endangered species (Addendum 2, CITES***). This portends substantial restrictions on export-import transactions involving the eel and related products. Hence it is particularly important to rear this fish from a grain of roe up to maturity and bring it to the consumer.

Such technologies are now state-of-the-art at fisheries involved with the artificial reproduction of valuable fish species, namely of spawning schools of the sturgeon fish. Fisheries like that show high per-

* See: I. Burtsev, A. Nikolayev, "Bester Fish: Faring Well", Science in Russia, No. 1, 2003. - Ed.

** Tylapia (king perch) - fish ofthe Perciformes order, now second to carp in fresh-water fish-breeding in the world. - Auth.

*** CITES - convention on international trade in endangered ecofauna and flora species. - Ed.

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formance and keep up the piscine gene pool. Corresponding monitoring is part and parcel of this work that includes the molecular-genetic identification and certification of producer fishes implicated in the aquacultural process, and the subsequent identification of their progeny and selection of products for export-and-import transactions. We at our Institute have founded a specialized center and a Russian national collection of standard genetic materials numbering over 10,000 units.

RUSSIAN MARICULTURE

This is yet another promising trend that calls for a good deal of R&D application. Man turned to man-culture in good earnest in the mid-20th century as a means of getting seafood by growing fish, mollusks and algae in sea water. This industry was spurred by the ever growing demand for most valuable hydrobionts (like Atlantic salmon, dorado, labrax, or sea wolf) whose populations were contracting rapidly. But consumers showed most interest in invertebrate hydrobionts (mollusks) and algae remarkable for extraordinary biological qualities.

Here in Russia mariculture is a young industry. The first attempts at growing mollusks and algae were begun in the 1970s and 1980s. Those were mussels, oysters and sea-crests grown in Primorye (Far East), the Black Sea (the southern shore of the Crimea) and the White Sea. Experts of the Pacific Research Center of Fishing and other R&D bodies developed technologies for the cultivation of algae and mollusks* at specialized hydrobiotechnical farms. In the mid-1990s the total output of mollusks reached 2 thousand tons, and as much as 7 thousand tons for laminaria, or sea-kale. But this work was phased down then, and as good as stopped altogether in the Black and White Seas.

Lately seafood products have cut a wide swathe among consumers. This, together with the growing purchasing power of the population and the emergence of the entrepreneurial middle class, has set the stage for marine farming. As many as 30 such farms are operating in Primorye, the Maritime Region of the Far East, in a joint venture of researchers and private investors.

Our research center has joined hands with the Midia (Mussel) Company on the Krasnodar Coast of the Black Sea and set up a modular complex, Magri, for upgrading cultivation techniques for mussels, oysters and other mollusks grown in a mono- and polyculture. According to expert opinion estimates, a string of such small enterprises in the coastal area of the Krasnodar Territory could produce as much as 20 to 25 thousand tons of mussel annually. Meanwhile, technological specifications are ready for the cultivation of more than 20 marine species of commercial value.

Unfortunately our innovational potential is but sluggishly adopted in practice. There are few specialized hatcheries and breeding grounds for testing and improving cultivation techniques so as to move ahead from laboratory to commercial production. Such farms are an "eye-catcher" for Russian and foreign investors.

One real mechanism of solving this problem is to set up biotechnoparks integrating R&D organizations and basic (or pilot) experimental-production complexes and schools for training skilled personnel. The record of our modular sturgeon-breeding and Magri complexes shows we are on the right track.

Aquaculture is a real thing. As shown by the experience of many countries, it is an intensive and technologically advanced sector of agroindustrial production ensuring the country's food security and more jobs (interindustry branches including), especially in rural localities and maritime regions. Aquaculture will make us less dependent on import deliveries and boost our exports. We shall thus be able to preserve the biological diversity of aquatic plants and animals in their natural habitats.

In strategic terms the potential of our aquaculture is estimated at 1.2 - 1.5 mln tons of output in 2020. This target could be reached only by implementing a set of legislative, managerial and economic measures.

Illustrations supplied by the authors

* See: "Mariculture in Russia", Science in Russia, No. 2, 2007. - Ed.