Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Program in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2019-2023.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Program in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2019-2023 is a nationwide policy document aimed at ensuring food security, improvement of access to adequate and diversified nutrition with a view of living standards and quality of life of the citizens of Kyrgyz Republic. At present, the demand of the country's population for quality and inexpensive fishery products continues to grow, which necessitates the adoption of the Program. The scope of the Program shall be implementation of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture management measures, requiring a holistic approach to the development that takes into account the need to preserve the integrity of ecosystems, support social objectives and integrated management of natural resources in addition to addressing production objectives.
Pond fishfarming is the main and most productive area of modern aquaculture in the Kyrgyz Republic. The potential for pond fishfarming in the country with the existing pond water fund and compliance with fish-biological standards may be 600 tons of commercial fish per year. Hundreds of private enterprises are currently involved in pond fishfarming. In addition to them, the State enterprise Uzgen Fish Farm is engaged in the production of marketable fish in the ponds. Cage culture fishery is one of the most promising areas for fishfarming in Kyrgyz Republic and is characterized by high economic efficiency. The most favorable water and climatic conditions for its development are in Lake Issyk-Kul, waterbodies of the Naryn HPP Cascade and other waterbodies.
The goal of the Program: to form legal and economic conditions for creation of a modern and steadily functioning fishery complex in the Kyrgyz Republic. Implementation of this Program will allow achieving the following indicators by 2023: volume of commercial fish production will be 15100 tons, production of fish fodder - 33300 tons, production of fish stocking material - 40 million pieces of small fry. The Program sets three primary priorities. Priority 1 includes the restoration and development of fish production capacity through pasturable fish culture, small-scale commercial fisheries, recreational and sport fishing. Priority 2 includes ensuring advanced aquaculture development by supporting small-scale fishery business entities in carp and trout production, fish feed producers, as well as support for value chain development and cooperation. Priority 3 includes improvement of the management system of the fishery complex towards optimization of the structure, specific and effective action plans that take into account the ecosystem approach, proposals for the restructuring of public enterprises of the fishery complex, promotion of private sector investment.
The Program envisages two-stage development of the aquaculture and fisheries sectors. Phase I (2019-2020). Creating enabling legal and business conditions for private sector development, investment attraction, donor support. Phase II (2021-2023). In this phase, the main measures will focus on the following areas: introduction of new and advanced aquaculture technologies in the private sector; support for fishery stakeholders to further increase production potential and access to foreign markets; development of modern models of production and logistics organization; improvement of ichthyopathological support; improvement of management mechanisms for the development of territorial fisheries complexes. At this stage, a significant increase in the production of marketable fish products is expected through continued private investment and increased sustainability and productivity of fishery entities.