Crimea boosts production of black caviar 3-fold in 9M, oysters up 1.5-fold - Rosrybolovstvo
MOSCOW. Nov 3 (Interfax) - Crimean aquaculture farmers boosted production of black caviar by almost three-fold and oysters by 1.5-fold in 9M 2017, according to Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency Rosrybolovstvo.
The agency said that black caviar production totaled 224 kilograms in 9M 2017, up from 75 kilograms for the same period in 2017.
Crimea produced 331 tonnes of commercial seafood products in 9M 2017, up from 322.6 tonnes for the same period last year. Commercial fish made up the bulk of the production, totaling 217.4 tonnes. The peninsula produced 204.2 tonnes of common carp and silver carp, down from 221.3 tonnes in 9M 2016, 2.3 tonnes (1.1 tonnesin 2016) of rainbow trout, 4.4 tonnes (0.47 tonnes) of sterlet and sturgeon and 6.5 tonnes (0.5 tonnes) of tilapia.
Mussels and oysters made up the rest of production. A total of 69.6 tonnes (70.4 tonnes) of mussels were delivered to retail chains in Crimea and 43.7 tonnes of oysters (28.8 tonnes).
Crimea currently has 67 aquaculture enterprises operating on the peninsula, 17 more than the previous year. The rise in the number of companies that are involved in commercial fishing and oyster breeding is connected above all with state support for the industry, Rosrybolovstvo said.
The agency said that the peninsula has huge potential to develop aquaculture in the future.