Beluga weighing almost 150kg caught at the mouth of the Ural river

On the evening of March 1st, employees of the Ural-Atyrau sturgeon fish hatchery, caught at the mouth of the Ural river, a caviar beluga weighing 148kg and a length of 2.2 meters along with four males.

‘We began fishing on the 23rd February due to the early ice melt in the river. Until yesterday, nothing was caught, and then immediately such a catch! The fish are apparently on the way,’ says Gilman Sarsemaliev, director of the hatchery.

‘Do you connect this success with the dredging work carried out at the mouth by the Chinese company CNCEC?’

‘Dredging is always good for the fishing industry, it should have a positive effect on the results of spring fishing season. We hope to fulfil the catch plan for sturgeon producers.

‘In December 2018, the brood stock died at the plant. How is the recovery going?’

‘We carried out this work last year, and the stock were partially restored. When this female gives up her eggs, she will enter the brood stock if she survives’.

‘If there are problems with catching fish producers, are you able to cross existing fish and produce fry for release into the sea from current stock?’

‘We do not have the authority, within the framework of the state order, to produce and release into the sea juveniles of hybrid sturgeon species. This activity can, however, be carried out as part of the commodity sturgeon breeding program.

By Murat Sultangaliyev