Inarctica releases first batch of Russian fingerlings into Barents Sea cages

MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax) - PJSC Inarctica , Russia's leading producer of farmed Atlantic salmon and trout, has begun the cage stocking season in the Barents Sea with the release of the first batch of 600,000 Atlantic salmon and trout fingerlings produced at its own fry farms in Russia, the company said in a press release.

The stocking season will continue until August.

The company said its strategy calls for strengthening its vertical integration, and control over expenses and quality throughout the whole production chain. The company's five fry farms, located in Karelia and Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod and Arkhangelsk regions, are focused on this effort, Inarctica said.

In the last three years the company has increased the number of its own fry farms to five, and begun building its own feed plant, Inarctica deputy CEO Andrei Baranov said in the press release.

"Last year we launched the flagship farm for raising large juvenile salmon and trout in Kondopoga, which we built from scratch. This is the largest farm of its kind in Russia, which makes it possible to produce up to 6 million fingerlings per year. Today we're seeing the effect of the work done. Investment in our own production makes it possible to strengthen positions in terms of self-sufficiency in fingerlings and feed. Deliveries of fingerlings to cages are proceeding on schedule," Baranov said.

He said the company plans to continue to use both its own fingerlings and imported smolt, gradually increasing the share of the former.

"Logistics with Russian farms enable us to deliver fingerlings to sea cages in small batches, which reduces the risks of losses. Weather and biological factors are favorable in the first half of 2025, partners and all the company's services worked together smoothly, so the first batches of fingerlings were stocked successfully," Baranov said.