An increasingly big player in the tuna trade, Da Yang Shi Jia (Zhejiang Ocean Family), launched two new tuna purse-seine vessels in October.
The ‘Xiang You 8’ and the ‘Sheng You 8” are being described as a “contribution to making China a strong nation in long distance fishing” by Da Yang Shi boss Zeng Yue Xiang.
Zeng’s firm has significant fishing, processing, and distribution operations both in China and Japan and has been increasing its focus on tuna. The new vessels will join what Ocean Family described as China’s “newest and most modern tuna seine-net vessel,” which set sail for the Pacific islands last month.
The vessel, named “111 Xin Shi Ji” left a shipyard in Fuzhou, a hub for China’s fishing industry and increasingly a base for China’s burgeoning long-distance fishing sector. The 75-meter-long ship will work the waters off Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Nauru, and Kirabati, according to a statement from the vessel owners.
“International tuna resources are increasingly scarce,” Yang Xiang Ming, captain of the new vessel, told local media at the launch party for the vessel. “But China only has 20 seine vessels.”
