Marine economy propels Shandong development

Salmon settle down in Yellow Sea

Shandong province is making efforts to develop mariculture. [Photo/dzwww.com]

The story of salmon further proves the importance of technology. Most of the salmon sold in Asia are imported from Northern Europe. The freezing treatment and long-distance transportation make the fish not as fresh as it should be. “Unfortunately Chinese waters are not suitable for farming salmon, because the ocean temperatures are too high,” explained Mai Kangsen, honor dean of College of Fisheries in Ocean University of China.

The unfavorable condition means that a lot of work needs to be done to cultivate salmon domestically. Wang Yongqiang, retired from the Marine Biology Institute of Shandong Province, is trying to find out how to farm salmon in the coastal waters of China.

There is a piece of sea area 120 nautical miles (222 kilometers) to the east of Rizhao where the water temperature 30 to 40 meters under the sea surface is similar to that of 100 to 200 meters below sea level in other regions. “This area is suitable to farm cold water fish. Since the area was discovered in the 1950s, we’ve been intent on developing mariculture. However, the technology of that time couldn’t make it come true,” said Wang.

By cooperating with Rizhao-based Wanzefeng Fishery Group, Wang managed to solve the bottlenecks. Last August, the first cultivation management boat was launched to transfer the first batch of cultivated salmon roe to the area. This March, a 30 meters’ high cultivation box with a perimeter of 180 meters was submerged, which was expected to cultivate 300,000 salmon.

Wang explained that a series of advanced technologies and materials were employed to make sure the box would be resistant to marine corrosion and temperature changes. In the future, this boat will manage ten cultivation boxes which can provide 1.5 tons of salmon annually.