From April 12 to 14, 2021 in Moscow for the second time was held the International Exhibition of equipment and technologies for production, breeding and processing of fish and seafood AquaPro Expo.
In 2021, the AquaPro Expo exhibition was officially included in the list of events supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.
62 companies took part in the exhibition, which displayed equipment for fish farms and fish processing, feed, biopreparations, water control and treatment systems, as well as equipment and gear for fishing and seafood.
7 enterprises of fish industry of Crimea have presented at the exhibition fish production, produced in Sevastopol. According to the director of Sevastopol Center "My Business" Natalia Borisova, the participation of regional enterprises was organized within the framework of the national project "Small and medium entrepreneurship and support of individual entrepreneurial initiatives".
Also with the help of Export Support Center ANO "Tambov Region Business Support Coordination Center" its aquaculture products of valuable fish species (sturgeon, rainbow trout, African catfish) was presented by the first closed-type fish farm in the Tambov region - LLC "Tambovsky Sturgeon".
The exhibition AquaPro Expo was visited by 2,162 specialists from 112 cities of Russia, as well as from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Ukraine and Finland.
Many participants noted the qualitative composition of the visitors, the high degree of concentration of the target audience and the great interest in the presented products. Their number has also increased: compared to 2020 by 71%. The number of regions from which visitors came also almost doubled.
"AquaPro Expo exhibition is very applied and specialized for our topic - aquaculture. We have spent those 3 days actively, gathered more than 70 contacts and conducted more than 50 negotiations with representatives of aquaculture farms from the European part of Russia, Central Asia and Belarus. We will be working with many of them. HERCULES (Raisioaqua feed)
"We liked the exhibition and even exceeded our expectations. Good attendance, attention from the organizers. A lot of potential clients, who are engaged in fish processing". VKP "SIGNAL-PACK"
A three-day educational business program is a traditional accompaniment to the AquaPro Expo exposition. The program was sponsored by Marel, the world leader in equipment, software and solutions for fish and seafood production.
Two-day conference "Aquaculture as a successful business: practical aspects and development prospects" was dedicated to discussion of prospects of aquaculture development, one of the most dynamic growth spheres of agroindustrial complex, and solution of practical problems of fish farms. The work of the conference was opened by a plenary session, organized with the support of the Eurasian Aquaculture Alliance. Foreign and Russian experts presented the reports on the key trends of the world aquaculture development. Oleg Kobyakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, welcomed the audience and stressed the importance of aquaculture for food security and the importance of developing common approaches to the development of the industry.
Marcio Castro de Souza, Secretary of the Subcommittee on Fish Trade and Coordinator of the GLOBEFISH project, also participated from FAO. He spoke about global trends in fish consumption and farming. The topic of international cooperation was continued by Maria Baigot, Head of Agroindustrial Policy, Interstate Programs and Projects Department of Agroindustrial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Regional Director for Russia and Eastern Europe of AKVAgroup Murdal Kristen A. and manager of Eurasian Aquaculture Alliance office in Finland Natalia Jansson shared their experience in fish farming abroad. The reports on Russian achievements in aquaculture and new directions of development of the industry were made by Bezhanidze Georgy Yangulevich, head of the priority project of the Department of Economic Development of Sevastopol, and Shishanova Elena Ivanovna, Acting Director of VNIIR - a branch of FGBNU "FIC VIZh im. L.K. Ernst.
Practical sessions were also held as part of the conference. During the session "Distribution: from problems to opportunities" the participants have considered a wide range of questions, connected with realization of cultured fish - from veterinary certificates to creation of the Internet-shop and associated businesses. Particular attention was paid to the support of small businesses, organization and expansion of their markets. The session was the final lesson of the theoretical part of the AquaFermer Scool course, in which webinars on a variety of issues in the organization of fish farms were held during three months. The practical part of the course is also planned. The lesson will take place at the trout farm in Kislovodsk from June 30 till July 3, 2021 and let us see "behind the scenes" of a big fish farm.
The practical session "Innovations in Aquaculture" allowed the visitors to get acquainted with the industry know-how and proven solutions from foreign and Russian companies and universities. On the first day the session presented technologies of water treatment and disinfection, optimization of biofilters operation, solutions for UZV and flow-through systems as well as software for fish stocking. The second day of the session was devoted to presentations on feed and feed additives for improving efficiency of fish breeding and disease prevention.
Discussion of the nuances of rearing various aquaculture species took place in the case-study session. It consisted of five workshops: trout farming, sturgeon farming, herbivore and carp farming, mariculture and aquaponics. Experts shared their experience and best practices in aquaculture business, told about problems related to cultivation of one or another hydrobiont and, most importantly, about what solutions to these problems exist today.
Business program of the exhibition was also useful for technologists of fish processing enterprises. All three days there were seminars by Marel experts. The experts told about the robotized technologies in the segment of cod fish processing, highly profitable processing of salmon fish species and software, which allows uninterrupted modern control of production.
As well as last year, on the third day the Center of training and professional development worked for technologists, the partner of which was Dmitrov Fishery Technological Institute. Specialists of fish-processing enterprises could attend master-classes on topical issues of organization of production and quality assurance of fish products and get certificates at the end of the intensive.
We thank all the participants, visitors, partners, listeners of the business program and of course the speakers and are looking forward to see you at the next AquaPro Expo exhibition which will be held on 12-14 April 2022 also in Moscow, IEC Crocus Expo.
