In 2020, Bashneft Releases 1.2 Million Small Fry of Valuable Fish Species into Water

During the summer and autumn of 2020, Bashneft, a subsidiary of Rosneft, replenished the water bodies of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Nenets Autonomous District, and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District with small fry of valuable fish species. The total number of released whitefish, sterlet, and salmon fry amounted to 1.2 million. This was the largest release of young fish over the past 10 years under the Bashneft programme for water biological resources artificial reproduction.

About 880,000 whitefish specimen spent seven months in special fish hatcheries gaining the mass necessary for adaptation before being released into the Sula River in the Nenets Autonomous District. Small fry were delivered by helicopter to their permanent habitat.

The company prepared and released 147,000 peled fry for the Ob River stocking in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District. They were grown out in the same river under special arrangement with the nursery ground separated from the reservoir by a special water gate until the fry reached sufficient size. Such conditions provide a favourable living environment for the fish to grow and almost entirely exclude the time of fry adjustment after entering a large river.

More than 150,000 sterlet fry were released into the Belaya River, Pavlovskoye and Nizhnekamskoye reservoirs in Bashkortostan, the main region of Bashneft production activities. The fingerlings of the local Kamsko-Belskiy sterlet population were grown first. In the fish farm, they gained the weight of about 10 grams, thus increasing the chances of its survival in the Ural climate.

Prior to releasing the fry into the river, the temperature of water in the containers is equalized gradually, compared with the one in the river or reservoir. Then the fry are moved into their new habitat area where they can bring forth just in a year.

The stocking areas were determined by the Federal Agency for Fishery and
approved by regional authorities of state control, supervision, and protection of water biological resources.

The artificial stocking of Russian reservoirs is carried out as part of the implementation of Rosneft Oil Company’s strategic tasks in environmental protection, including a set of measures for ecosystems and biodiversity protection and restoration of natural resources.