In Kazakhstan, lakes and rivers will begin to be transferred to private companies without a competition, provided they promise to breed fish and invest hundreds of millions of tenge. This possibility is enshrined in the new law on aquaculture, signed in June 2025.
According to the publication Atameken Business, the document allows water bodies to be transferred for use without a tender — on the condition that the investor engages in cage fish farming and implements a project worth at least 175,000 MCI (645 million tenge) for a new enterprise or 100,000 MCI (369 million tenge) for the expansion of an existing one.
The aim of the law is to develop the fishing industry. However, some experts warn of potential environmental and corruption risks.
Honoured Ecologist of the Republic of Kazakhstan Chingiz Lepsibayev believes that the industry is already functioning stably and does not need such support.
"There is no need to give them chunks of water areas, seas, and lakes. This is despite the fact that we live in a region most affected by climate change, because we are a water-scarce region. I think we need to focus not on handing out land for fish, but on preserving and retaining the water that exists," the ecologist believes.