The company blurring the lines between salmonid farming and conservation

Historically, the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan has not been known for its aquacultural activities. As a landlocked nation, it is no surprise to learn that fish consumption remains significantly low, at an average of 3.5 kg per capita annually.

However, despite being technically classified as landlocked, Kazakhstan borders the northeastern Caspian Sea, which has unfulfilled potential for cage farming, according to Organic Fish – which aims to establish the sea’s first cage farm for rearing salmonids. Not only does the prospective producer have ambitions to increase the nation’s fish consumption with locally farmed steelhead, but it also has aspirations of contributing to the conservation of a threatened endemic salmonid species – the Caspian salmon.

Slow and steady

As cage farming is entirely unprecedented in the Kazakh region of the Caspian Sea, the leaders of Organic Fish are keen to take measures to ensure that their project starts out on the correct foot. First and foremost, this involves the selection of a site appropriate for trout farming. Conveniently, the shareholders of the Kazakhstani company are also the founders of an environmental research organisation, Nomad Eco, which has carried out extensive environmental analysis of the proposed site, to ensure optimal farming conditions and minimal environmental impact.

In addition to the wealth of experience and knowledge of the Caspian Sea, not to mention an armoury of environmental research equipment, provided by Nomad Eco, Organic Fish partnered with Akvaplan-niva - a Norwegian research company - to conduct an independent analysis of the assessment results in order to ensure optimal site selection.

Following this extensive site analysis, which began in 2020, Organic Fish has signed an agreement with the Fisheries Authority of Kazakhstan which secures their farm location for a period of 49 years, although the company plans first to build a pilot farm to work out the finer points of the operation.

Planning and development

The next steps for Organic Fish include the design of their pilot farm – which is being led by their Norwegian research partner – and the sourcing of feed and juveniles. Currently, they are considering three options for the sourcing of fingerlings: one from France, one from Poland, and one from Denmark.

Due to the brackish nature of the Caspian, the fish they plan to stock for commercial farming will be steelhead trout – the anadromous counterpart to freshwater rainbow trout – which they think will be well suited to the Caspian Sea.

“The first stage in this project is the development of our pilot farm. We want to experiment with how the cages will function, how the fish will behave, how they will grow,” explains Anna Sabirbayeva.

The Organic Fish team have plans to begin with a farm consisting of two cages, each 28 m across and 20 m deep, with the capacity to yield an estimated 200 tonnes. The farm will also house a back up cage to account for emergency situations. Moving forwards from this starting point, the team hope to gradually scale up to reach an annual harvest of 5,000 tonnes by 2031. Following this scale-up, Organic Fish plans to market its wares not only in Kazakhstan, but also in the surrounding countries of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Beyond this, if all goes well, they also see central Europe as a potential customer base.

Since the Organic Fish project is still in its infancy, their main goal is to build up their experience and to try to develop a blueprint to follow regarding cage farming in the Caspian. Whilst not directly applicable, they plan to look to the examples set by other pioneers of the salmon farming industry, in Norway, Scotland and Chile.

According to Sabirbayeva, she would also welcome the entry of more fish farmers in the region.

“The seafood market is not well developed in Kazakhstan. Therefore, we actually look forward to competition in the Caspian Sea when we have several fish farms. That way, the infrastructure will develop faster and better, because it's very costly for one company to develop all the infrastructure in the Caspian Sea,” she explains.

Looking ahead to the time when logistics and infrastructure become a key concern for the company, Organic Fish has also partnered with a local seaport company, Semurg Invest, which operates the Sarzha Transport and Logistics Center in the International Port of Kuryk. The seaport sits at the intersection of the China-Europe and Russia-India trade corridors, equipped with all necessary infrastructure and capacity to help to implement the Organic Fish project.

“We hope that we will be the main player in steelhead production in ten years’ time. And we hope our trout will be very tasty, very healthy, and very well recognised. We aim to cover the entire Kazakhstan market, raising the consumption rate of seafood, and moving beyond a production capacity of 5,000 tonnes,” she adds.

Aspirations for conservation

While the commercial side of the project hasn’t taken off yet, Organic Fish also have aspirations to help to support the wild populations of Caspian salmon – which are currently on the red list of endangered species.

The Terek and Kura rivers contain the spawning grounds for the anadromous species but following the construction of several dams in these waters, along with high levels of fishing and poaching, Caspian salmon populations have fallen dramatically. While unsure if it is even possible to raise this species in a cage environment, it is the aspiration of the Organic Fish team to test the feasibility of this, potentially allowing them to release fish back into the sea to bolster the falling population.

If Organic Fish’s venture into conservation proves successful, the company plans to construct its own hatchery operation for the rearing of Caspian salmon fingerlings of which some would be kept for cage rearing whilst another portion would be released into the wild. To begin with, however, the plan is to secure fingerlings from Azerbaijan Fish Farm, a subsidiary of Lu-Mun Holding, which farms in Gabala, Azerbaijan.

Looking to the future

Despite being at an early stage of development, the vision of Organic Fish is truly admirable, in addition to their steady and methodical approach, which aims to ensure minimal environmental impact and optimal farming conditions. Likewise, the commitment of the company to the restoration of an iconic endemic fish species is impressive.

While only time can tell if Organic Fish will succeed, the project is truly an exciting prospect for Kazakhstan and the aquaculture industry at large.