Organic aquaculture as promising trend of the fish industry development (review)

The status of organic aquaculture which presents production (cultivation) aquatic species (fish, crustaceans, molluscs, sea plants etc.) and guarantees high quality and safety of the product in accordance with specific principles is evaluated on the base of a large amount of statistical data. The main limiting factor of the development of aquaculture, in particular organic aquaculture, in Russia and in the world is deficiency of feeds (L.Yu. Lagutkina, 2017). Feed production is constrained by the deficit, expensiveness, and low ecological safety of fish meal which is a traditional raw material. The incentives of the development of aquaculture are changes in the culture of food consumption especially among young people, and willingness of the consumers to pay for the ecological safety of the products. The new formats of production (P. Edwards, 2015) based on technologies of sustainable, effective, integrated and organic production will contribute to the development of an aquaculture. Organic projects of aquaculture (S. Begleiter et al., 2015) become more attractive for investors. One of the first specialized venture capital funds, Aqua-Spark (Netherlands), has invested $7 mln in organic projects in Mozambique, Iceland and Norway since 2014. Global organic aquaculture production in 2015 is evaluated as 400 thousand tons that is about 0.54 % of the overall aquaculture production (without water plants) but twice as much as overall volume of Russian aquaculture production. Production of organic aquaculture is focused on rearing salmon (10 %), molluscs (5 %), carp (1 %), shrimp (1 %), trout (0.3 %), and sturgeons (0.3 %). Major part of organic products is produced in China (304 thousand tons, or 80 %) and in Europe (76 thousand tons, 19 %). Among manufacturers (about 1 thousand) those who are certified (200 in China, 465 in Europe) are of our particular interest. European manufacturers are certified according to the European (in fact, the international) standards, Chinese manufacturers are mainly certified according to national organic standard which is not identical to the international standards. Russian manufacturers will be certified with regard to the Russian and (or) international certification systems. Since 2011, the pilot introduction of organic aquaculture in Russia occurs in the Astrakhan region at a small innovative enterprise Modern Fishery Complex “Sharapovskii” where aquaculture is combined with crop rotation. “Vitality Leaf. Organic” of Saint-Petersburg Ecological Union (the Russian system for voluntarily ecological certification of international level) is acknowledged as congruent to European standards. To date, the development of organic aquaculture in Russia corresponds neither to natural potential of the country, nor to world average indicators of the industry. A way to solve the problem may lay in the development of feeds which will correspond to base requirements of organic standards.