During March 21–28, 2026, as part of my working visit to Kazakhstan, I visited the fish production company Khamit Ltd. in Shardara, which is engaged in pond and cage aquaculture in lakes, fishing in Kazakh lakes, and fish processing, including the production of fish meal. The company employs 240 staff and processes a total of 12 species of freshwater fish, with an overall processing capacity of 6 tons of fish per day. The main processed species is pikeperch (Sander lucioperca). This promising collaboration was established thanks to the activities of our faculty during last year’s FAO workshop, the Kazakh-Czech Aquaculture Research Center in Astana, and Taraz University named after Sherkhan Murtaza.
Over the course of five days, together with our Kazakh colleagues, we organized a practical workshop for Kazakh fish producers and researchers. The aim of the workshop was to teach participants how to carry out broodstock selection of pikeperch, perform efficient artificial spawning, produce larvae, and subsequently rear them in ponds with further adaptation to intensive aquaculture, followed by continued intensive culture of stocking and market fish. The objective of the workshop was to demonstrate how pikeperch can be efficiently produced in ponds and intensive aquaculture in order to slow down or halt the decline of wild pikeperch populations in Kazakh lakes. The final outcome of the workshop is the preparation of an innovative international project supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
In addition to the above activities, I met with several students who expressed interest in studying at our faculty next year within English-taught master’s or doctoral programs.
Written by: Tomáš Policar
