Russia has unique opportunities to develop fish farming. Nevertheless, today half of all products available on the market are imported from abroad. It's a shame, but in the current realities it is more profitable not to produce, but to resell.
Fisheries and hunting in the country are not well developed, although it would seem that business in this area is the dream of any man, because all (or almost all) of the stronger sex love fishing and hunting. Why is this so? What are the pitfalls in the organization of fisheries? What are the secrets of such a thing? Read about it in the article.
Which fish is more profitable to breed
Before drawing up a business plan for fisheries, decide which fish you will breed. The technology of work will depend on this. In fact, there are few options, or rather, there are only two of them - trout or carp. Only these types of fish are in constant demand among buyers, and besides, they grow well.
Of course, if the possibilities allow, you can simultaneously grow trout, and carps, and other types of fish, as well as engage in fish processing (canning, smoking and others). But in the article we are talking about beginning fish farmers, to whom, of course, such a scale of activity is not available.
Unpretentious carp
Growing carps is perhaps the easiest. They are tenacious and can exist in any water body. To learn the technology of breeding these fish, you do not need to graduate from a higher educational institution with a specialization in Agriculture and Fisheries, just read some textbooks yourself.
Moody trout
A few more costs than those that are needed for growing carp, require trout farming. But you will sell it at a price almost three times more expensive. Great, right? Of course, everyone in this case will want to grow trout. But not so simple. This fish is very sensitive and whimsical, it will not be possible to organize a trout farm without hiring a qualified specialist: it requires both certain knowledge and experience in this matter.
Fish climate
The main thing in organizing a business is to create conditions for the health and growth of fish. And for this you need to constantly monitor the temperature of the water and its oxygen saturation. Therefore, carefully approach the determination of suitability for fish farming of the pond you rent. The best solution to the problem is to conduct a fish-biological survey. If its results are optimal, you can stock up on the pond. In general, such an examination should be carried out several times a year, in different seasons.
Temperature mode
So, the temperature favorable for trout is sixteen to nineteen degrees. Warming the pond to twenty-four degrees is fatal for the fish: even if it does not die, it will definitely stop feeding. It is best to keep trout in a quarry with a depth of about ten to fifteen meters, in which case you can be sure that nothing will threaten the fish even in the summer heat, because the sun's rays do not penetrate to such a depth. Due to the strong sensitivity of trout to temperature, many Russian fisheries specializing in its breeding take water from artesian wells or are located on cold rivers.
When breeding carp, everything is much simpler.It is desirable that the pond warms up well (up to 24-25 degrees), and it is also necessary that it is not contaminated with manure, oil products, or decaying organic matter. Depth can be very small - only one and a half to two meters. Natural fodder base at such a depth will most actively develop. A five-hectare pond will be enough to produce ten tons of carp.
There is one secret: the larger the pond, the easier it is to breed fish. It’s quite difficult to operate the small pond - it quickly warms up and cools quickly, creating a tense hydrochemical regime. In a large body of water, the temperature is more even, and this is favorable for any kind of fish. If the carp pond is a drain, then the process of catching in the fall will be greatly facilitated. If a pond is created by damming a river, a dam can be built.
Fish farming areas
A fisheries project should be created taking into account the characteristics of the specific territory in which it is organized. All of Russia is divided into fish farming zones. So, for example, the Moscow region is the 1st and 2nd zones, and the Krasnodar Territory is the 5th and 6th.
In the southern regions, fish farming will be more profitable due to the longer vegetative period, during which it intensively feeds and grows actively. But this does not mean that if you decide to organize a fishery, you need to move south. With the competent construction of technology and the selection of a good reservoir, business can be effectively conducted in the middle zone of the country.
To the question of benefit
In general, is it profitable to maintain fisheries in Russia? The question is controversial. Wholesale prices for live fish are now not very high, but such a business can still be called profitable. Nevertheless, when compiling a business plan for fisheries, calculate everything carefully.
It is attractive that now all entrepreneurs engaged in fish farming pay single agricultural tax. The object of taxation is income minus expenses, and the rate is 6 percent. You will only need to pay this tax, protecting yourself from paying property tax, UST, income tax, VAT.
Nevertheless, fish farming is a very risky and complex business. Many mistakenly believe that all that is needed is to launch a fish into a pond, and then it will grow itself, and it remains only to catch and sell it. If everything were so simple ... In fact, nothing like that! Fish is a living product, and anything can happen to it at any moment.
Main expense item
You probably know that the biggest cost of any fisheries is the purchase of feed. Fifty-sixty percent of all expenses are borne by them. Many people ask: “Why buy food, because you can run, say, carps into a pond and just wait until they grow up, feeding naturally?”
It may be so, but you will wait a very long time. And at the same time you can get no more than 120 kilograms of fish from one hectare of the surface of the water. At the same time, fisheries that grow carp with a high-intensity method manage to get twenty centners of fish per hectare, or even more.
What is this high intensity method? It consists in the use of nutritious high-protein feeds containing at least 5-7 percent fat and 26-28 percent protein, as well as in high density. Such feed is more expensive than conventional feed by an average of 20 percent. Roughly a kilogram of feed for carp will cost 7-8 rubles.
With trout, and in this aspect, the situation is much more complicated. This fish requires high-quality extruded feed, costing 30-40 rubles per kilogram. If you decide to feed trout cheap feed, then do not be surprised that she will have white meat. Consumers are used to red, so it’s unlikely that you will be able to sell such fish.And red meat can only be obtained by using special additives - obtained from krill carotenoids.
Such a significant difference in price is leveled out by the amount of feed necessary for the fattening of these two species of fish and, of course, by the final price of their sale. So, with one kilogram of feed, you can get a weight gain of trout, also equal to a kilogram. And in order to achieve an increase in the weight of carp per kilogram, it will be necessary to spend 3.5-4 kilograms of feed. Thus, the cost of growing one kilogram of carp will be somewhere around 25-32 rubles, and trout - only a little more.
Fisheries Business Plan
Starting such a business from scratch will require very large investments. It is not possible to name a specific final amount, since there are many nuances in this matter. Let us focus directly on the aspects of fish farming. Trout planting stock can be bought at a cost of 250-400 rubles per kilogram.
The price varies depending on how much the fry weigh (their weight can be from 1 to 50 grams). The smaller the individuals, the more expensive they are, because a kilogram of fry with less weight will result in more fish. The losses should be laid about 10%. After 2.5 years, the fry will turn into eight hundred grams of fish, and you can sell them at an average price of 160-175 rubles per kilogram.
Carp planting material at a much cheaper price - 60-120 rubles per kilogram. The weight of the fry varies from 14 to 40 grams. The growing cycle to an optimal weight of 1.2-1.7 kilograms is three years. You can sell fish at a cost of 60-70 rubles per kilogram.
Return on investment
The fishery business plan should include a calculation payback period investment. It should be said that a long refund period is the biggest drawback of such a business. Therefore, get ready for the fact that you will not begin to receive profit very soon. But there are a number of ways that will allow you to quickly return the money invested.
For example, you can initially buy not fry of carp, but two-year-old fish weighing up to 200 grams. They will cost more, but in just one season it will be possible to feed them to marketable weight. Another good option to replenish the budget is to arrange paid fishing. By the way, in this way you can realize a considerable part of your products. And the costs will be less - there will be no costs for pond fishing, logistics, etc. That is, in fact, you will sell fish directly in the water, but at a price slightly lower than the market price. Good luck in your business!
