Their delicacies: by the end of the year, Russia may reach full self-sufficiency in oysters
The best performance results of Russian petnates, still and game wines were presented at the Eastern Economic Year 2022 in Vladivostok at the unique VinoGrad venue organized by the Roscongress Foundation and Rosselkhozbank. By the opening of the Eastern Economic Forum 2022 in Vladivostok, the Russian Agricultural Bank analyzed the production volumes of the Far Eastern delicacy, the bank’s experts studied the demand, production and consumption of oysters in Russia and calculated that by the end of the year the volume of consumption of this type of shellfish is about 5 thousand tons. Self-sufficiency will be 100% loaded. The production volumes of oysters will be equivalent to the production volume of this in Morocco – this country lasted a time when it emerged as an exporter of the delicacy to Russia.
According to analysts at the Center for Industry Expertise (CEE), demand for domestic oysters is growing rapidly. In 2013, the volume of production of molluscs of this species increased with 2 tons per year. to 4,600 tons in 2021 and a corresponding reduction in cost. In 2021, Russia will import more than 400 tons of mollusks from Morocco, New Zealand and Japan; previously, large purchases were also sold to the USA and the USA. Imports are also growing rapidly (at a rate of more than 10% per year), but the share of domestic production in consumption already exceeds 90%. According to the ECE, the market volume this year is about 5 thousand tons.
“Large-scale production of oysters at the beginning of Russia only in 2014, in the Krasnodar Territory. Now the geography of aquaculture of sea delicacies is supplied throughout the country: from the Black Sea coast to the Primorsky Territory, Andrey Dalnov, head of the Center for Industry Expertise of the Russian Agricultural Bank. — Explosive growth dynamics of the growth of state interest in the sub-sector, state and financial support for fish farming and fishing activities, improvement of legislation in the field of fish farming, as well as subsidizing research and the activities of industry research institutes. In addition, the demand for domestic seafood has increased. All this has become a driver for the start of the active implementation of investment projects for the cultivation of shellfish.”
Oysters are seafood delicacies that are not a product of mass consumption, the main sales channel for manufacturers of enterprises in the HoReCa segment, and the main consumers of products are mostly concentrated in large cities – Moscow, St. Petersburg, million-plus cities, as well as in resort areas. In terms of consumption, Russia is now equal to Morocco, in this North African country the main consumption of oysters is in consumption and in restaurants designed for consumption with a significant increase in income. This segment of the market in terms of demand in Morocco is not only represented by delicacies in the domestic market, but given the high tolerance of transporting products, producing aquaculture abroad.
Where do oysters come from
Oysters in Russia are grown on special technical facilities (in gardens, on collectors) in the interests of a partial sea area. They feed on phytoplankton – microalgae that live in sea water. Special feeding of oysters is not required, the volume of oyster cultivation in specific water areas limits its food problems: species composition and biomass of forage phytoplankton. When growing larval oysters in nurseries, microalgae are also used for feeding, which are cultivated there.
Growth in production volumes is inevitable primarily due to the improvement of technologies. According to the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), natural spawning and settling of Pacific oyster larvae have been noted only in the last 3-5 years and do not need mariculture.
“Artificial spawning and rearing of oyster larvae and other mollusks to the stages of viable spat* (10-20 mm) are carried out in nurseries in conditions of limited pools, which can be taken out to sea and grown to marketable sizes, comments Irina Burlachenko, Head of the Department of Aquaculture of the FGBNU VNIRO. . — Technologies for growing spat oysters in nurseries have been widely known for a long time and can be easily selected for the initial conditions. So, for example, in 2020-2021. Features The Pacific branch of FGBNU “VNIRO” has developed a technology for growing spat oysters, selected for the conditions of Primorye.
Thus, the growing demand for oysters can be detected by increasing the production of seed and supplying it to marine aquaculture farms.
“The main producing regions are the Southern Federal and Far Eastern regions. Aquaculture is grown on farms on the Black Sea coast, in the Murmansk region, in the Far East, – produced by Andrey Dalnov. – Particularly important varieties of domestic oysters are refining, Khasan, Chernovorskaya, emerald, Crimean Pearls, Far Eastern, Aniva, Sochi and Imperial. You can buy them both on marketplaces and in retail, as well as in restaurants.”
According to the Federal Agency for Fishery, Primorsky Krai accounts for the bulk of production — 4,200 tons in 2021, an increase of 84% in two years. Now there are about 120 enterprises in medicine, to which more than 300 fish breeding sites are assigned.
As part of the Eastern Economic Forum in 2022, the Production Ownership at the unique VinoGrad site, organized by the Roscongress Foundation and the Russian Agricultural Bank, will implement the highest regulatory standards for slow-moving and game wines, ideally combined with enterprises and other seafood.
* Oyster spat – fry, from which adult oysters grow. The size of the finished product depends on the quality of the spat.