The second SFERA conference “Fish 2017” (Fish processing and aquaculture technologies) took place during the first week of February, in Moscow, Russian Federation. The publishing house SFERA from St. Petersburg and the All-Russian Atlantic Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography were co-organizers of the event. Approximately 200 registered, national, and international scientists, nutritionists, and representatives of the feed industry attended the two-day conference. Speakers came from Russia and from several other European countries.
Besides the exchange of research, results, and scientific data, the conference aimed at exchanging and reviewing successful experiences of national and foreign companies in their establishment and further development in Russia. Representatives from the executive and legislative branches of the federal and regional governments were also present. Consequently, regulatory aspects of the aquaculture sector were discussed along with the various development programs for Russian regions. The aquaculture industry is clearly a priority for the Russian federal government and its regional governments. This is hardly surprising given the tremendous capacity and potential of aquaculture in Russia.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The papers presented at the conference addressed the characteristic issues associated with the rapid growth of a new industry from technical, marketing, and legal points of view. Animated discussions followed the presentations.
USSEC was a major sponsor of the conference and two USSEC consultants, Dr. Iani Chihaia and Dr. Jan van Eys, spoke at the event. Dr. van Eys presented a paper, “Innovations in the Area of Technologies and Feeding of Industrial Fish Production," emphasizing the potential of soy products to replace fishmeal in aqua formulations. Dr. Chihaia presented a paper entitled “Optimization of the Use of Ingredients in Aquaculture Feeds; Nutritional, Biological, and Technological Properties for Proper Application, Balancing, and Manufacturing.” The main issues of the USSEC presentations were published in Russian language in corresponding articles in SFERA FISH magazine distributed during the conference and released on the SFERA website.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The issue of the use of soy products to replace fishmeal is of major concern and interest for Russian fish producers and since much of their current and future production concentrates on fresh water species, the potential for the use of soy products in fish feed is important. The superior quality of soy relative to other plant protein – even locally produced – is well recognized and appreciated.