June 5, 2013 — When it comes to aquaculture, people usually think of coastal regions or the Mekong Delta where shrimp and pangasius earn revenues of upto tens of billions annually. However, recently people found mountainous regions in the North and the highland provinces as suitable for breeding Russian sturgeon, a fish variety of high economic value in the world.
In 2008, Russian sturgeon was bred in the Da Mi hydropower reservoir in the central province of Binh Thuan adjacent to the highland province of Lam Dong.
The breeding of this fish was a real breakthrough as the fish grows quickly. It takes 8 to 10 years for the fish to weigh 15 kilograms in Russia but it takes only 4 to 5 years in Vietnam.
Le Anh Duc, Chairman of Vietnam Sturgeon Group, said sturgeons grow faster in Vietnam because the weather is warmer than in Russia.
Breeding in highly controlled environment in fresh water means that farmed caviar can be of as good quality as that in the wild in the Caspian or Lagoda Lake in Russia.