BUSINESS Kings of Black Caviar: Why Commercial Fishing Is Not Yet a Business

More than a ton of black caviar will be produced this year on Ukrainian sturgeon farms. At first glance, the figure does not seem that big, but five years ago we practically did not have such “white”, legal, aquaculture-grown products. And despite the fact that sturgeons are native to our waters, large farms that breed these fish can be counted on the fingers.

One of the most successful “royal” fish farms is located near Kyiv, in the city of Ukrainka. Here, entrepreneurs Maksim Mostovoy and Sergey Meshkov make money from “water”. The approximate cost of their goods: 100 g of caviar - $ 100, the farm's productivity is hundreds of kilograms. The plans include increasing exports to the USA and Europe.

Realist talked to Maxim about what makes their business successful, what poaching on our rivers can cost, and how much money entrepreneurs “drip” on such fish farms:

Maxim Mostovoy
I didn’t choose this business

We wanted to build offices on the site of this farm (the sturgeon farm is not our only business). But in the 70s, a fish farm was built here, where they studied whether it was possible to grow trout in such conditions, in such a channel. By the 2000s, several cages with sturgeons remained from the fish farm. We “caught” them, started buying more food, and the fish began to grow. As a result, there was so much of it that we had to do something with it. So we are doing it.

This year, we sent the first batch of caviar to America

Our advantage is the price. But there are also many other subjective factors, for example, it is important for the buyer that the caviar is not American, but from places where sturgeon is a native fish. In general, there are many prejudices around this business, people believe in fairy tales about caviar being made from oil, that the best is beluga. Why is it the best? Scientists say something else, and astronauts took sterlet caviar into space.

It only seems that if the guys have black caviar, then their life is a success

Well, imagine that you have 10 million, and you are thinking about where to invest it so that you can live well for the next 10-20 years: “Okay, drugs, prostitution are not suitable. Solar energy is clean. Great. I will install panels and in 6 years I will recoup them.” Now let's look at sturgeon. I bought babies for 10 million, but only half of them are females. And they only grow for seven years. Then the sturgeon wanted it - gave up the caviar, wanted it - waited a couple more years. And, lo and behold, you finally have caviar. Success? No, you need to create a trademark, work on the workshops, meet food standards, enter the market and figure out who buys this caviar. Absolutely everyone consumes electricity, and caviar is a subculture.

But aquaculture is the future

All over the world, six out of ten fish in stores are farmed. Commercial fishing is such a thing of yesterday, Lord. Look, I have six fishing boats, but I don’t know what my fisherman will return to shore with. It all depends on whether there is a storm or not, whether he is sober or not, whether the net is torn or not. You want to order fish from me, but how much will the fishermen catch today - 400 or 100 kg? Now look at the “aquaculture” fish. You need two tons - that’s how much they will bring you. At the same time, it will be calibrated, not damaged by the net. And the plus is that the buyer will know exactly what it ate, from which ecological zone it “swam”.

Commercial fishing should be banned

For example, I cannot take into account how much my fishermen caught. A certificate of origin is great, it works all over the world. Fish patrol is good. Half of the poachers abandoned their nets, they are afraid of it. But how can I control everyone? I have a video camera at the receiving point, I can put a GPS on each boat. But what prevents the fisherman from hiding part of the catch? He put the fish in a cage, tied a plastic bottle to it and sunk it. At night, he collected it, pulled it to the shore, cut it up, put it in the refrigerator, and then distributed it to the markets. And what do they do with low-value “trash” fish? It gets into the nets, but it is impossible to sell. So they caught it and killed it.

Ukraine will not perish without pike perch from the Dnieper

If you want fish, pay the one who raised it. I am not talking about a complete ban, you can keep the fishing rods. If you want to fish, take a spinning rod, and catch with a net in your pond. Feed the fish first, let them grow, and then set the nets. Yes, I understand that leaving so many people without work is an unpopular step. But they earn 5 thousand UAH a month from fishing, and at the same time they work in less than comfortable conditions. If there was an opportunity, they would choose another specialty. You can’t fish. Well, you can’t. We have been exterminating fish for twenty years and before that we did it for seventy years. Sturgeon is an aboriginal fish. So why do we raise it? How many have we already lost? I have a subscription to a fishing magazine since 1960. They write about what was found in the Dnieper and give advice to fishermen. For example, how much lard do you have to smoke so that burbot will bite on it. Do you understand? Where are you going to find burbot now...

Commercial fishing is not a business in Ukraine

I know how much fishermen earn there. I go to conferences with fish farm directors, I know them, I see what kind of shoes they wear

t. These are enthusiasts who have been fish farmers for 30 years and hold on to their jobs because they understand that without them, everything will be stolen for summer cottages. If such a person gets sick, the enterprise will go to the bottom in three weeks.

We recently had an engineer from the Baltics who was creating an underground city for the Soviet government

Back in the 50s, he designed a facility that would feed people sturgeon and trout in complete isolation for 30 years. He did this without any computers, using only his knowledge and observations of the fish. Since then, science has made great strides. A closed-loop water supply system allows you to simulate any environment, any flow rate, salinity, temperature. And now this engineer is saving rare species of fish, for example, piranhas. They are so tasty that in a year or two, they will no longer exist in the wild.

If a sturgeon wants, it changes sex

Sturgeons are unique fish. Here we have selected all the females from the cage, and after three months only 20% of them are males. Interesting? It is still unclear whether this fish has a life limit and an old age gene. They say that it takes 300 years for it to gain 1000 kg. But that's what people say. And how long did it actually live? This fish is 200 million years old. If we take the entire history of the Earth, then it has been living, relatively speaking, for 40 years, and the scientists who study it - for two seconds.