Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister, Vladimir A. Izmailov, visited the Norwegian Cod Breeding Centre when he was in Tromsø for Norwegian-Russian fishery negotiations recently.
The Centre, located near Tromsø and officially opened in August 2005, produces 300 family groups of cod simultaneously. The parent fish are stripped of roe and milt, and the cod fry are hatched and fed until they are ready to be released into the sea. Production at the Centre takes place in two steps: fry production is done in a land facility where seawater is pumped into the tanks, while further growth takes place in cages in the sea.
Jørn Krog, Secretary General of the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs said that Izmailov was clearly impressed over the quality and the dimensions at both the Breeding Centre and Tromsø Aquaculture Research Station in Kårvika.
“We were there because he is interested in the type of activity represented by the two facilities and he liked the way the research activities are organised”, he says.
Ivan C. Burkow, Managing Director of Fiskeriforskning, the organisation that established the cod breeding programme as instructed by the government, said that the visit is very important for the organisation and for “building up trust and further collaboration”.
