Scientists of the subsidiary organization of the "National agrarian science and educational center" JSC - LLP «Fisheries Research and Production Center» during online consultation informed about the role of the fodder base of reservoir in the development of the fishing industry." 

The speaker Dmitry Pilin is senior researcher at the West Kazakhstan branch of the LLP «Fisheries Research and Production Center» held online consultation on the topic "The role of the fodder base of reservoir in the development of the fishing industry." 

By forage base, we mean those components of the ecosystem that are fish feed. On this basis, the fish that live in our reservoirs can be divided into four groups: benthophages, which feed on bottom invertebrates; planktophages that feed on living organisms in the water, predators who prefer their own kind, that is, fish and phytophages consuming plant organisms.

That is, food for fish is living organisms, whose stocks can be limited and often the food supply is one of the main factors affecting the diversity, productivity and even reproduction of fish resources.

An essential feature of the majority of Kazakhstani water bodies was that the basis of the food supply was mainly composed of larvae of aquatic insects, which at a certain stage of development leave the water body. This adversely affected the productivity of reservoirs. And when the problem of acclimatization of more productive fish species was raised, the question arose about what they will eat, about the acclimatization of food organisms - worms, crustaceans and mollusks, which provide a stable density of food organisms throughout the year.

At the initial stage of their development, all fish feed on plankton - organisms in the water. And the density of these organisms largely determines how effective the reproduction will be. With a decrease in the density of planktonic organisms, juvenile waste increases, which means that the reproduction efficiency decreases. Zander, of course, is one of the most prolific species. Female zander can spawn up to a million eggs. But low plankton abundance - and that’s it, all this fertility is coming to naught. Juvenile zander massively dies of hunger.

In addition to the acclimatization of food organisms, it is possible to acclimatize fish species that consume food, which for local species are not. These are silver carp and grass carp, which feed on microscopic algae and higher aquatic vegetation, respectively.

The speaker answered various questions that users are interested in, such as whether fish are fed, if the food base is underdeveloped, which objects have been successfully acclimatized in Kazakhstan, why study the forage base of the reservoir, how to find out if the fish have enough food and what can be done to improve feed base of the reservoir.

LLP «Fisheries Research and Production Center» has laboratory of hydrobiology, the scientists of this laboratory is engaged in studying the forage base of water bodies, feeding fish and, if neccessary, can advise farmers on this topic.