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Russian salmon for Russian consumers

Norwegian salmon and trout for sale in Murmansk

Russia hopes to replace 35 percent of imported salmon with fish farmed in the Barents Sea.

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The fish farm company Russian Sea (Russkoye More) has won a regional tender for nine plots for industrial farming of Atlantic salmon on the Kola Peninsula. The company plans to invest RUB 3 billion (€73.9 mill) in development of the plots, which have a potential of farming 30 000 tons of salmon per year – 35 percent of the total Russian import of salmon, Vedomosti reports.

Russkoye More plans to start working on the plots in June 2011.

The Murmansk region has an enormous potential for fish farming, with 111.000 lakes and water, 18.000 rivers and numerous fjords. The climatic conditions on the Kola coast of the Barents Sea are optimal for fish farming , with a stable average annual temperature that seldom goes below 8 or above 16 degrees Celsius.

Fish farming has expanded in Murmansk the last years, with a production of 7000 tons in 2010, three times more than in 2009, RIA Novosti writes. There are two other fish farming companies in the Murmansk region – Gigante Pechenga and Russian Salmon.

Experts believe the fish farming sector will be attractive to investors. Import of frozen and fresh salmon and trout to Russia increased 5-6 percent last year.

Norway is the largest exporter of salmon to Russia. Only in July 2010 Russia imported Norwegian salmon for more than €32 million. Russia is Norway’s second largest importer of salmon, only surpassed by France.