Karelian Research Centre’s CEO Olga Bakhmet took an active part in the discussions at the Council meeting. There, she shared that the Karelian Research Centre has many lines of research related to aquaculture. One such research area is fish diseases and the need for vaccination against a range of infections. Currently, scientists at the KarRC RAS are conducting trials of rapid tests for various fish diseases.
Meeting of the Council on Fish and Fisheries Sector Development
The questions discussed at the Council meeting included utilization of algal resources of the White Sea, which contains tens of tons of harvestable seaweed. Scientists at the Institute of Biology are currently implementing a project funded by the Russian Arctic Science and Education Center and the Arkhangelsk Experimental Algae Facility, where they investigate technologies for using algal extracts as biostimulants in crop farming.
At the Council meeting, the Head of the Republic mentioned that it would be good to have more information on the state of Lake Onego, Lake Ladoga, and the White Sea in order to assess the anthropogenic impact on our water resources. Artur Parfenchikov proposed organizing a conference next year, where scientists could discuss the research results regarding these water bodies.
Meeting of the Council on Fish and Fisheries Sector Development
– Over the years, we have accumulated extensive expertise on these water bodies, including data on the dynamics of various processes such as the ice cover and changes in hydrophysical and hydrochemical properties. We have prepared the analytics which we’d be willing to share and discuss. We can talk of ongoing trends in these water bodies and predict future scenarios. We are certainly investigating water pollution issues as well. I believe this conference will be an important event for Karelia and the Northwestern region in general, gathering not only scientists, but also representatives of authorities, businesses, and citizens of the republic, – said Olga Bakhmet.
The Council also talked over the issues related to the draft laws addressing aquaculture and conservation of aquatic bioresources discussed by the Federation Council’s Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management, as well as the development of some initiatives meant to promote the development of the fish and fisheries sector in Karelia.
Photos: Respublika/Sergey Yudin, RK Government Media Office
