Respected research institute to get major make-over, focus on groundbreaking projects

The Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology in Vodňany, South Bohemia (a centre with a long and respected history and part of the University of South Bohemia’s Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters) will soon get a major make-over to the tune of 370 million crowns. Roughly two-thirds – allowing the centre to renovate two buildings and complete a new one – will come from European funds. Once reconstruction is completed, the institute will be able to focus vigorously on a series of important new research projects – including rearing of the rare sterlet sturgeon.

Sterlet sturgeon, photo: Jiří Bohdal, www.wikimedia.org

Valued highly for its legendary golden caviar, the breed is virtually extinct in the wild due to overfishing and illegal trade, and the institute wants to make a difference.

More on that in a moment but first: details on the renovation which begins in a few days time. I spoke to Petra Plachtová, the project manager:

“The institute has an almost 90 year history, and the renovations which are due to begin in just a few days are understandably very important for us. Last September we came under the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, so it is a great opportunity for us to take part even more in international research projects. Our position will be helped through the renovation of the main building, which dates back to 1952 and is really in poor shape, as well as other sites used for research. It will help with international conferences and so on. The project will be a huge milestone for us but also the town of Vodňany itself.”

Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, photo: Benjamín Skála, www.wikimedia.org

Funding provided will also be used to acquire new machines and technology. During this period, the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology will also focus on six major projects, run in temporary stations as renovation continues, but then transferred to the new and revamped site. The projects include researching new methods for monitoring water purity, monitoring the quality of fish for consumption, and - as mentioned a few moments ago - helping the sterlet sturgeon (or jeseter malý as it is known in Czech). Petra Plachtová once again:

“We’ve been focusing on sturgeon for a long time, we are even helping to try and save them in China. We have concentrated on this fish because its numbers have been so drastically hit by overfishing and poaching and illegal trade. Sturgeon are caught for their meat but especially for their caviar – a luxury item which sells worldwide.”

Misha Glenny

Inexhaustible demand for the world’s best caviar – Beluga, Sterlet, Osetra and others – only increased in the areas of the former Soviet Union after the Soviet empire collapsed: former Guardian and BBC correspondent Misha Glenny in McMafia, a 2009 bestseller on international crime, reported that sturgeon populations into the new millennium were so decimated that in 2004 only 760 tonnes of sturgeon were caught by the Caspian Sea nations – compared to 26,000 tonnes in 1985. That’s not surprising, he suggests, given caviar can fetch between six and seven thousand US dollars per kilo in the West.

In 2005, the situation had become so grave the US Fish and Wildlife Service banned the importing of beluga caviar as part of an effort to protect the endangered fish; even so, authors like Glenny have suggested that the five main sturgeon types in the former Soviet Union will be close to extinction in 2010. Given the gravity of the situation, the sterlet sturgeon could be especially important for breeding purposes. Petra Plachtová of the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology again:

Sterlet sturgeon

“The aim is to increase reproduction of the sterlet through a regulated population kept in ponds and tanks. The cornerstone of the project will be developing a genetic technique to determine the sex of the sturgeon long in advance. Now, you can only tell after seven years or so, when females mature and reproduce for the first time. The project would be important for us in keeping female populations, to be able to help harvest eggs more eeffectively and boost sturgeon numbers. The results, we already now know, would also see commercial development, licensed to fish farms, with the profits helping fund our continuing work.”

Illustrative photo: Lucía Pizarro Coma, www.sxc.hu

Genetically determining the sex of the sturgeon within a few months for example, instead of years, would save fish farms millions in rearing costs, raising mostly female samples. Commercially, meanwhile, other techniques have already been adapted which could further help the survival chances of the fish. Some firms specializing in caviar have taken an ethical stand and opted for methods of roe removal that do not kill the fish, either using a cesarean section, or preferably a far less intrusive micro-incision at the urinogential opening, which combined with an applied massage, allows workers to draw the eggs out. Not easy, perhaps, but as gourmet.com writer Barry Estabrook has noted, “far better than extinction”. He calls it aquaculture’s “equivalent” to having your cake and eating it too.

Barry Estabrook

Certainly, specialists at Vodňany’s Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology will also be hoping to contribute practical solutions. Project manager Petra Plachtová again:

“We already have some contracts lined up or letters expressing an interest in our research. We want the results to be fully applicable and offer firms the chance to use the methods we develop, allowing them to boost their productivity and results.”

As mentioned, trying to help save the sturgeon is only one of a number of ongoing projects at the centre in Vodňany: another is to use certain fish and crayfish to develop an ongoing monitoring system to check water purity.

Sterlet sturgeon, photo: www.mrk.cz

“We plan to use sensors on certain fish and crayfish that are sensitive to impurities or pollution. We will be able to continually monitor patterns of behavior and will be able to detect when something is amiss. The aim is to monitor water reserves to check against pollution or the presence of dangerous substances.

“Another project which we will also conduct will be research into the detection of micro-particles from pollutants like soaps and shampoos to oral contraceptives released in urine into the water, which we know have a detrimental effect on fish populations or water purity, but which normally are too small to register. We would then cooperate with purification facilities to filter such particles out.”

As it stands, the revamped institute will officially be completed by 2013 – a deadline which members of the institute will most certainly be looking forward to and which they say should not be hard to meet.