——Cage culture of cold water mass in Yellow sea
General Secretary Xi Jinping urged Shandong to pay more attention to managing the ocean, strive to take the lead in developing the Marine economy, speed up the construction of world-class Marine ports, a sound modern Marine industry system, and a green and sustainable Marine ecological environment, so as to contribute to the building of a maritime power.
Conforming to the trend of the new era, Shandong Province is at the forefront of marine economy development.
1.Red origin: mountain sea relay – Yimeng mountain area provides fish fry for the sea
Xujiawangshe village in Linqu County, Shandong Province, adjacent to Yi mountain and Mi river, is located in Yimeng mountain area, more than 200 kilometers away from the sea. As the saying goes, xujiawangshe village should make a living in the giving circumstances, but in the past two years, the small mountain village has taken an unusual road and has an indissoluble bond with the sea.
There is an underground lake flowing through xujiawangshe village, which is rich in water resources, clean water quality and natural cold water temperature. Because of the unique natural conditions, the village has a tradition of fish culture since the early stage of reform and opening-up. In order to increase villager’s income and make full use of this unique natural condition, the scientific research team of Ocean University of China found the local fish farmers. The scientific research team proposed to cooperate with them to experiment and breed salmon fry here. The scientific research team promised the fish farmers to provide technical guidance throughout the process and purchase the fry after they grow up.
Why did the scientific research team choose to cultivate salmon fry in Yimeng mountain area? Professor Gao Qinfeng of Ocean University of China, one of the members of the scientific research team, explained to us that salmon is the common name of salmonidae fish. Under natural conditions, salmon grow up in seawater, reproduce in fresh water after sexual maturity. Fry will return to sea water for growth after growing to a certain specification in fresh water. Salmon can only grow in cold water, but there is a cold water mass in the Yellow Sea area of China. All conditions are very suitable for the growth of adult salmon.
In 2017, the experiment of salmon culture in the cold water mass of the Yellow Sea was successful, and the experimental results can be popularized. However, mass culture of salmon requires a large number of fry. Finding fresh and cold water resources suitable for the growth of fish fry has become an important task for the scientific research team. After investigation, it is found that there are freshwater and cold water resources in many mountainous areas of Shandong Province. The idea of a “mountain sea relay” in which fish fry are cultivated in mountainous areas and then put into the sea for cultivation after they grow up has gradually taken shape. Now fish fry breeding has been promoted in Linqu, Tancheng, Sishui and other places in Shandong, which has also become a new industry for local targeted poverty alleviation
2.Marine heavy equipment manufacturing – large cage culture, paving the way for marine economy
The cultivation of Salmonidae fish in the cold water mass of the Yellow Sea has also driven the development of relevant equipment manufacturing. The Yellow Sea cold water mass is 130 nautical miles away from the coastline of Rizhao, Shandong Province. In order to breed fish in large quantities in the deep and far sea, it requires a super large fish culture cage suitable for the deep and far sea conditions of the Yellow Sea cold water mass. The scientific research team of Ocean University of China, together with Qingdao Wuhan Shipyard Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., designed and built the world’s largest, China’s first fully submersible large-scale cage and Asia’s largest deep sea intelligent cage “Dark blue No.1” with fund provided by Rizhao wanzefeng fishery Co., Ltd.
“Dark blue No. 1” cage has a circumference of 180m, a height of 38m and a weight of about 1400t. The effective breeding water depth is 30m and the diameter is 60.44m, which is equivalent to 40 standard swimming pools. The net area is close to the size of two football fields, and 50000 salmon can be cultured at the same time. The diving depth of “Dark blue No.1” can be adjusted from 4 meters to 50 meters. The rise and fall of the fishing ground can be controlled according to the water temperature, so that the fish can live in a suitable temperature layer.
On May 4, Dark blue No.1 was launched, which will promote China’s deep and open sea aquaculture into a new era. By 2020, Rizhao modern marine ranch in the cold water mass will in yellow sea realized large-scale production of salmon culture, with an output value of 300 million yuan; In 2025, the construction of modern marine ranch in Rizhao, Weihai, Yantai and Dalian yellow sea cold water mass will be in full bloom and become a demonstration project of China’s modern marine industry; By 2030, the integrated development of the whole industrial chain will form a new wave of China’s marine industry development and make important contributions to the implementation of the national marine power strategy.
The answer given by Shandong for developing the ocean economy is to make overall development, exchange between sea and land, and interact between sea and land, so as to release the greatest benefits of the marine economy in the way of coordinated development. In order to implement the instructions of the general secretary, Shandong has formulated the action plan for the construction of a strong marine province in Shandong, which puts forward that by 2022, Shandong will achieve an average annual growth of more than 9% of its marine GDP, accounting for about 23% of its regional GDP, and strive to basically build a strong marine province by 2035.