Northern Sturgeon Joint Stock Company was established in December 2008 with the primary objective of carrying out “Culturing sturgeon in Yen Bai province” project. After nearly three years of operation, the company has achieved positive results and grounds for successfully raising new foreign sturgeons in Yen Bai province.
Up to now, the company has raised sturgeon in Thuong Bang La commune (Van Chan district) and Thac Ba Lake reservoir (Yen Binh district). It has invested VND7 billion to build a parent sturgeon culturing system, a baby sturgeon breeding system, and an egg collecting system, and set aside VND5 billion for the second phase of investment. Particularly, VND1.5 billion will be used for freezing storage, tank, machine and equipment for egg laying and hatching, VND1.5 billion for building a 3,000 square metre baby fish facility, VND500 million for constructing fifteen 30-square metre tanks, and VND1 billion for egging laying and processing system. The company is raising 1,500 parent sturgeons weighing 15 kilos on average here. Also in Thuong Bang La, the company has started testing commercial production of parent fish and baby fish. In the Thac Ba reservoir, it is managing 55 fish cages of 500 - 900 cubic metres, two boats and two floating houses equipped with aerators and cooling equipment. It is culturing 50,000 commercial sturgeons.
According to the guidance of the provincial authorities, from 2011, the company will transfer sturgeon farming technology to fishermen along Thac Ba reservoirs and nearby areas. By 2015, the company will transfer technology to 75 households with two 64 cubic metre cages each in Thac Ba Lake. Each household will make a net profit of VND65 million a year. Each household in nearby areas will keep three 28-square metre tanks, earning net VND35 million a year. The company will support fishermen with breeding techniques, feed, cages and tanks, and purchase their products after that.
The company is now raising four species of purebred rare sturgeons, namely Acipenser baeri (Siberia), A.gueldenstaedtii (Russia), Huso huso (Beluga sturgeon) and Scherlette. Specially, Huso huso and Scherlette can live well at temperature 12-13 degrees Celsius. After four years, Acipenser baeri, A.gueldenstaedtii and Scherlette will lay eggs (currently sold at US$1,500 per kilo) and after seven years Huso huso will lay eggs which are now priced at US$6,000 per kilo (salted egg). With 500,000 commercial broads in 2015, the company will collect 5 tonnes of salted eggs a year.
In 2010, the company’s revenues were VND8.15 billion, excluding revenues from eggs. It will experiment breeding sturgeons in 2011 and master breeding technology in 2012.
Thanh Tung
Vietnamese
