The Kozin Reservoir is ideal for growing whitefish species. It was built to supply water to the Verkhneserginsky iron smelting and ironworks, but production was closed at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, the area has not been subject to industrial pollution, and the water has retained its natural purity.
“The institute’s fish farmers regularly stock the Kozinsky reservoir with fish. Over the past two years, more than nine thousand pieces of valuable whitefish species have been released into the reservoir. Of these, 6.5 thousand yearlings of peled with an average weight of 30 grams, 500 specimens of whitefish and 2.7 thousand yearlings of broad whitefish,” noted Evgeniy Darinov, deputy director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) and head of the Tyumen branch. “All the fish were raised by specialists from the Tyumen branch of VNIRO: from eggs obtained from our own broodstock to juveniles ready for independent life in natural conditions.”
Stocking took place with the participation of the Department for the Protection, Control and Regulation of the Use of Wildlife of the Sverdlovsk Region. “Such events help improve food security in the region. Kozinskoye Reservoir is a comfortable reservoir for whitefish. Nelma and whitefish prefer cool and clean water, where anthropogenic influence on flora and fauna is minimized. Under these conditions, fish accumulates useful minerals and vitamins that are well absorbed by the human body,” noted Alexander Kuznetsov, director of the Department for the Protection, Control and Regulation of the Use of Wildlife of the Sverdlovsk Region.
This year, scientists from the Tyumen branch of VNIRO will conduct experimental observations at the Kozinskoye Reservoir: they will determine the survival rate of juveniles raised on artificial feed in the conditions of a natural reservoir. They will study the effectiveness of transferring fish to a natural food supply, which will form the basis for further scientific developments in the field of aquaculture and artificial reproduction of valuable fish.
VNIRO press service