The culture of sturgeons in Russia: production of juveniles for stocking and meat for human consumption

Abstract

Culture of sturgeons in Russia began in the second half of the 19th century. During the first part of the 20th century, a significant research effort was devoted to the control of reproduction and the rearing of larvae mostly for stock enhancement purpose in rivers. Large-scale construction of hatcheries began in the 1950s after the damming of rivers, and by the 1980s over 130 million 1–3-g juveniles per year were being produced from wild broodstock. Presently, the production is 100 million juveniles. Emphasis is now on optimising stocking results through consideration of fish-specific factors (e.g. behaviour, fitness, size, balance between species) as well as environmental variables (food availability, release sites, salinity, precipitation regime). Food fish production of sturgeon (market size is 1.5–2.0 kg is just beginning using captive broodstock and new growing technologies. In 2000, farm production was about 1650 t, which was higher than sturgeon landing from wild fisheries (1500 t declared in 2000).