According to preliminary data, in the first quarter of 2020, aquaculture production in the Russian Federation increased by 37.5% compared to 2019, amounting to more than 112,800 tons.
The most significant growth dynamics were recorded in the Far Eastern Federal District, where the volume of fish and seafood cultivation increased by almost 80% to 39,530 tons. The production volume of the enterprises of the Siberian Federal District increased by 53.7%, to almost 678 tons. The Southern Federal District also entered the top three in terms of growth rates, where the volume of aquaculture production increased by 38.7% and amounted to about 29,170 tons. These dynamics are related to new investments that started three years ago with the new government measures to support the aquaculture industry and the federal law on aquaculture.
The most significant growth dynamics compared to last year was shown by the production of kelp, which increased by more than 2.2 times, up to 17.670 tons. The top three in terms of growth rates also include invertebrates and cyprinids, whose production in the first quarter of 2020 increased by 52.8% and 28.3%, to almost 23,000 tons and 34,760 tons, respectively.
In 2019, the volume of commercial aquaculture production amounted to 286,780 tons, which is almost 20.2% higher than in 2018. The draft development strategy for the domestic fisheries complex provides for an almost three-fold increase in the production of aquaculture products by 2030 – up to 600,000 tons.