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Evolution of the fish farming

As it was mentioned above, the Aydar-Arnasay lakes play an important role for fisheries development. Karimov states that despite the active development of the AALS fisheries from the 1960s to the 1990s, there is no ample amount of publications and projects concerning this topic (Karimov 2008).
Currently, historical overview of fisheries in the Aydar-Arnasay lakes is briefly described by some national scientists such as Kamilov (1973, 1995), Karimov (2008), and Shohimardonov (2008, 2009). In their reports they are trying to underline the most important issues concerning the major trends in the development of fisheries in these lakes during 1960- 2000.

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   CEU eTD Collection
   Fisheries development in the period of 1960-1990

FAO Fisheries Technical paper “Fisheries in irrigation systems in arid Asia” demonstrates the situation in fisheries development in Uzbekistan in the period of 1960-1990. This paper outlines that until the 1960s fisheries were basically concentrated on the inshore water of the Aral Sea and the deltas of the main inflowing rivers, Syrdarya and Amudarya. During the 1960s fisheries existed only on the Aral Sea, totaling 25 000 tons of annual catch.


⁵ Water quality index is a 100 point scale that summarizes results from a total of following nine different measurements temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fecal coliform, biochemical oxygen, total phosphates, nitrates, and total suspended solids. The 100 point index can be divided into several ranges corresponding to the general descriptive terms: 90-100 excellent, 70-90 good, 50-70 medium, 25-50 bad, 0-25 very bad (source: http://www.water-research.net/watrqualindex).
It is important to point out that the majority of fisheries were in government ownership, but meantime, a few fisheries cooperatives were also operated on the Aral Sea. The fish captured were mainly the following species: carp (Cyprinus carpio), bream (Abramis brama), barbel (Barbus brachycephalus), roach (Rutilus rutilus) and shemaya (Chalcalburnus chalcoides aralensis). Less common were wels (Silurus glanis), pike (Esox lucius), asp (Aspius aspius), sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris), pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca) (FAO 2004).
In the 1970s fishing fleets were transferred from the Aral Sea to the new formed lakes for residual water storage: Aydar-Arnasay lake system and the Lake Sarykamysh. During this period up to 6000 tons of fish were caught in these lakes (FAO 2004). Kamilov and Karimov emphasize that in the 1970s and the 1980s in the Aydar-Arnasay lake system the fish yields without stocking reached a maximum of 15 kg/ha, and after stocking they increased to a maximum of 25 kg/ha (Kamilov and Karimov 1994).

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Because capture fisheries could not replace the quantity of fish lost from the Aral Sea the Ministry of Fisheries in Central Asia had to introduce a new program focused on the maintenance and development of fisheries in the new waterbodies. The Government of Uzbekistan implemented a large-scale development programme of pond fish culture and fisheries in inland waterbodies. That programme was primarily based on creation of new fish farms and fishing enterprises in all regions of Uzbekistan, testing and implementation of new efficient technologies, establishment of scientific centers, and specialist training (Kamilov and Karimov 1994). Starting from the 1970s fisheries in Uzbekistan started to develop very actively in lakes for residual water storage as in Arnasay lakes, in new pond farms and also in irrigation reservoirs (Kamilov 1973). For a while lakes for residual water storage, i.e. Aydar- Arnasay lake system and the Lake Sarykamysh, were more preferred for capture fisheries rather than irrigation reservoirs vulnerable to seasonal water level drawdown which has an influence on fish production (FAO 2004).
Later in the 1980s the Aydar-Arnasay lakes became the main fish provider of fresh fish for the population in Uzbekistan. They supplied a huge variety of fish such as carp, pikeperch, dream, roach, crucian carp, asp, phytophagous fish species, and even catfish. Issue 4 of Ecological Herald of Uzbekistan (2008) describes that in total, 3676 tons of commercial fish was produced in these lakes in 1987 while the total amount of commercial fish in whole Uzbekistan amounted to 7143 tons. In 1988 the situation was quite similar, i.e. 4616 tons of commercial fish in these lakes versus 8140 tons in the whole republic. In other words,
commercial fish produced in the Arnasay lakes made up 51,4% of the total amount of commercial fish in Uzbekistan in 1987 and 56,7% in 1988 respectively (Karimov 2008).
Generally speaking, between the 1960s and the 1990s Uzbekistan fisheries, including fisheries located on Arnasay lakes functioned with well-organized management. One of the reasons for implementation of the program aimed at form fish pond farms was the development of an alternative fish supply to that which was lost from the Aral fisheries. During the 1970s and the 1980s, 20 fishing companies were created to manage the fisheries in all large lakes, reservoirs, and in lakes for residual water storage such as Arnasay lakes (Kamilov and Karimov 1994).
All capture fishery and aquaculture companies were state-owned and financed from the government budget. Special attention was paid to the production in fish farms of material for regular stocking of reservoirs as well as for production of market size fish. During those years there was a close cooperation between the All-union (i.e. USSR) Ministry of Fisheries and the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan (FAO 2004).

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