China's eel appeal to gets national push

The China Eel Industry Forum was held in Xiamen, Fujian province on Oct 13, and was marked by the establishment of the National Eel Industry Sci-tech Innovation Alliance.

Attended by over 260 industry insiders, the forum invited renowned experts in aquaculture and leaders of related enterprises to give special reports in a bid to promote technological exchanges within the industry and the application of new technologies.

Zhang Jiaolin, president of Fujian-based Tianma Group, claimed that China's fresh eels are better than Japan's, but their price is far lower their competitors.

He believed that the key work of China's eel organizations and enterprises in the next 10 years will change that phenomenon and become an even stronger eel producer.

Jiang Xinglong, director of engineering research center of the Eel Industry Department, said that farming eels in soiled ponds occupies large amount of fresh water and land.

He suggested that soiled pond farming should be replaced with ecological and circulation farming where water quality control technology, soil quality improvement technology, low-carbon farming technology and other technologies are applied.

Liu Liping from Shanghai Ocean University said that all of the eel fries used in China's eel industry come from fishing and thus, fries are the major determinant of the development of eel industry.

He added that as the output of eel fries in Japan, the largest producer of eel fries in the world shows a downward tendency, it's necessary to cultivate eels in other places to satisfy the demand of a prosperous eel industry, such as American eels, European eels and Australian eels.

According to statistics, the export of fresh and cooked eels in China amounted to more than 6,000 tons and 35,000 tons respectively in 2016, generating over $900 million.

Fujian province is the birthplace of China's eel industry and the main producing area of eel farming, accounting for 40 percent of the national output.

The National Eel Industry Sci-tech Innovation Alliance intends to establish a platform integrating the industry's technological resources to accelerate the transformation of technological achievements and improve the industry's innovation ability.