Once again, aquaculture was among the TOP-3 topics of interest for visitors to Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo Russia, preferred by 18.74% of all visitors to the event. Companies from Russia, China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Belarus and other EAEU countries demonstrated their products and services in this section. There were a total of 87 participants, including fish farms, equipment manufacturers and suppliers of feed, feed supplements and veterinary drugs. As usual, aquaculture  was the focus of the Forum & Expo business programme. 

The section’s exposition keeps growing: new feed manufacturers supplementing regular participants

Diversity of both types of breeding stock and aquaculture business strategies was the highlight of the section’s exposition, shaping the key vector of the section’s business programme events.

JSC Fish Feed presented its new fish and seafood feed products manufactured at the company’s own factory, which started operating in the Astrakhan Region’s Lotus Special Economic Zone this May.

Limkorm demonstrated a new family of extruded feed for high value fish species; SIBBIORESURS presented its feed products for whitefish, salmon, sturgeon and shrimp; AQUAREX offered participants feed for carp and catfish. 

Other exhibitors included leading feed manufacturers such as Biff Bios, NOREG, Rusmodus-Feed, as well as Salih from Kyrgyzstan, National Aquaculture Group from Saudi Arabia, etc. Agro-Industrial Complex of the Republic of Belarus (BNBK) as usual brought to the event a big exposition of products and services for fish farming businesses.

Agrofeed demonstrated a wide range of premixes and feed supplements for poultry, livestock and aquaculture produced at its own factories. TECHNEX exhibited its feed production equipment. In addition to feed and supplements, AVZ S-P, Algotec and PROVET presented veterinary drugs, vaccines and disinfectants. 

Participation in the same section with fish farms allows suppliers of feed, additives and veterinary drugs for aquatic bioresources to find new clients quickly and negotiate all essential terms of delivery and long-term cooperation right at the expo venue.

Cultured product tastings and a variety of RAS equipment

INARCTICA demonstrated its own products and ULTRAFRESH logistics solutions for delivering chilled fish to store shelves and restaurants. The company hosted extensive tasting activities at its booth, allowing all interested visitors to try signature recipes with salmon cultured at INARCTICA’s farms.

Karelian Fish Factories offered tastings of their light-salted, hot-smoked and cold-smoked trout cultured in the bays of Lake Onega and other Karelian water bodies.

BELUGAFARM sturgeon farm presented Astrakhan caviar and specimen products from Caspian beluga, Russian sturgeon and Bastard sturgeon cultured on the Volga aquaculture farm.

The recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) was, as traditionally, installed in collaboration with Aquaterix Group. It allowed visitors to learn more about bioresource management processes and offered sector participants insight into new technologies for breeding and rearing different fish and seafood species.

Companies such as Famsun, GERMES, Luxsol, Aquaculture Group from Belarus, IMMID Aquaculture, Kasimov Nets, NPO Ecosystema, Rifpark and Uber Electro, Raltex, as well as a number of businesses from China and Turkey, presented their fish cages, pontoon mooring lines, RAS systems and other fish breeding and rearing equipment.

Speaking of new foreign exhibitors, visitors paid particular attention to Qihang Fishing Cage Rus, a company with 20 years’ experience specializing in aquaculture equipment and having a local office in Russia.

From RAS to store shelves: the business programme addressed all aquaculture business stages

This Forum & Expo’s business programme included a number of events focusing on a specific aspect of the fish and seafood breeding and rearing cycle, plus the business activities of players in the aquaculture and mariculture sector. 

A research-to-practice seminar “Building an aquaculture farm. Risks and reasonable decisions” was held on 17 September. Experts and representatives of the aquaculture production sector discussed structural changes to fish stock cultured in domestic waters, including lobsters, giant shrimp and a variety of oysters farmed in Russian waters. The seminar participants believe that diversity of environmental conditions and current technologies enable new species of aquatic bioresource to be bred in different parts of Russia, this facilitating expansion of the product mix from farmed seafood.

Open discussion “2035 is coming. Will Russia succeed in qualitative transformation of aquaculture?” organized by VNIRO and the MELKOM Group was held the same day. Its participants looked into possible scenarios for the sector’s development in view of the current trajectory in producing feed, vaccines and other veterinary drugs, as well as scientific, staffing, infrastructure and production support for the sector with a 2035 planning horizon.

Participants in the Second International Conference “Digital trends, smart technologies and real innovations in aquaculture” organized by Fogstream shared their experience of and ideas on introducing digital technologies and AI into aquaculture to make fish farming businesses more efficient and improve product quality. They also addressed real cases of using neural networks in business processes. These discussions helped them identify key priorities for further development and introduction of technologies into the industry.

A research-to-practice conference “Current aspects of breeding and keeping of aquatic bioresources in RAS”organized by the Aquaterix Group on the third day of the Forum & Expo, on 19 September, concluded the Conference programme. A new format, without presentations by speakers, was a highlight of the Conference. Instead, experts were invited to join in the discussion, contributing practical solutions to the challenges faced by the industry. Discussion topics were also picked by industry representatives who had time to explore the economic and legal concerns, as well as the human resource and technological components of the sector’s development trajectory.

The Forum & Expo global agenda also covered aquaculture. Joint technological development in the breeding and rearing, and in resourcing the sector was discussed during business sessions with China, India and Saudi Arabia. A major part of the presentation by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela also focused on these matters.