Page 201 - CAVIAR GUIDE

Krasnoborodko noted that the high cost of delivering We planned to sell [caviar] to Russia and Belarus since
water was compensated with relatively low electricity Latvia shares borders with these countries and
and heating costs, as the Yamal Peninsula is rich in sturgeon is a traditional food out there.” “Sturgeon,
natural gas. The strong local population’s purchasing often referred to as the royal fish, has seen a
power also helped the farm generate profit, as the resurgence in popularity, with increasing demand for
monthly salary in this part of Russia is close to €2,000 its meat and black caviar in Europe and Latvia. ‘Our
(US$2,204) — almost twice the country’s average. sales are growing every year,’ Krasnoborodko proudly
Climate plays a role even in RAS operation. In stated.
Thailand, despite the challenges of the tropics, there Since sturgeon is a heat-loving fish, the farm runs two
have been unexpected benefits to operating in a warm 120 kW gas boilers. Also, to simulate winter and spring
climate. Fish mature more rapidly in warm weather —to milk fish eggs—the farm uses water cooling with an
than in their native chilly north. In Russian Siberia, the 80-kW chiller. In this context, energy efficiency has
growth is much slower. come to the fore in recent years.
Originally graduated from the Moscow Physics and “We now need investments to install solar panels and
Mathematics Institute as a specialist in the physics of make heating with a heat pump, not a gas boiler,”
sea and oceanology, Krasnoborodko studied fish Krasnobodko said.
farming in Israel and RAS technologies in the U.S. To overcome the energy crisis, Krasnoborodko
The Soviet-era marine technology school was really believes the Baltic countries need to revive the
strong, offering some of the best education available nuclear energy development program, which was shut
in the world around that time. down more than a decade ago when plans for the
“When humanity was crazy about space in the 1970s, construction of the Ignalina nuclear plant in Lithuania
there were enthusiasts who turned their gaze not to were scrapped.
the clouds, but down, to the depths of the sea,” An era of AI
Krasnoborodko recalled. In a bid to further streamline operations,
“I have loved fish since childhood. I have always had Krasnoborodko is now looking into opportunities
aquariums at home, and now at home, I have a large offered by artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, he
aquarium for 1.8 m3 of fresh water,” Krasnoborodko revealed that he had designed a program for
stated. “By the way, an aquarium is also a RAS.” automatic fish counting in a pool.
Over the years, Krasnoborodko experimented with “I use a neural network for the detection task. This
using RAS to grow different seafood species, including neural network finds a fish and draws a rectangle
shrimp, catfish, eels, crayfish, sturgeons, trout and around it. Then, a small algorithm tracks the detected
even sea sharks. object,” Krasnoborodko explained.
Uninterrupted operation Even if the neural network has lost the fish, the
At the Salaspils site, Krasnoborodko helped build a tracking algorithm remembers it for a minute, and as
large fish farm consisting of three buildings with a soon as the lost fish appears in the frame again, it will
total area of 3,300 m2. have the old ID number assigned when it was first
“We have about 60 metric tons of sturgeon detected, Krasnobodko stated. This technology has
broodstock. We can get two metric tons of caviar per already proved its value.
year, which is about 40 kilograms of caviar per week “It is possible online, using another neural network that
constantly and continuously per year,” performs the segmentation task, to count the area
Krasnoborodko explained. We mainly get caviar from occupied by fish and from there calculate their total
fish without killing the females. We milk the eggs and weight; to determine the size, use the dimensions of
release the females to the fattening workshop so they the pool, namely the diameter of the pool. And this, in
can continue to live, gain weight, and produce new turn, allows you to calculate the feed coefficients,”
eggs.” Krasnoborodko claimed.
From the beginning, the investors envisaged an The future holds great promise. Krasnoborodko
opportunity to double production performance by revealed that he found a new investor from
adding the second floor. Kazakhstan to build a new trout pond with a capacity
“I specially built a high building, six meters high, for of 500 tons per year. Krasnoborodko stated that the
this,” Krasnobodko said. project worth €5 million (US$5.5 million) got a €3
The farm has been running smoothly for nearly 15 million (US$3.3 million) subsidy from European funds.
years. In general, Krasnobodko says, “to set up a Despite becoming increasingly busy, Krasnoborodko is
machine that would work uninterruptedly for 15 not planning to abandon RAS. Aside, from SIA Akva
years” is quite a challenge. However, it would be Agro he also works as a project manager in engineering
wrong to say that the SIA Akva Agro’s operation was company Akva Ferma. “Through, this firm I keep
entirely cloudless. “The main difficulties we building RAS worldwide,” he added.
encountered were sales and energy costs,”
Krasnobodko revealed.”

201 Caviar Guide | Special Edition