China’s processing sector faces a tough transition after the government has warned it will enforce a sewage discharge licensing system from 2020.
Chinese seafood processing plants discharge 94 million tons of sewage per year, much of it untreated, into coastal waters according to Wang Hai Yan, head of standards at the Environment Enforcement Bureau at the Agriculture Ministry, which oversees fisheries. The bureau will also enforce standards on emissions from processing equipment, according to Wang, who was addressing a conference for the processing industry in Dalian.
While China had 9,674 companies in seafood processing, there are only 2,636 firms with more than CNY 5 million (USD 721,000, EUR 635,000) in annual revenues, suggesting many firms are surviving on razor-sharp margins. With the new regulations, a winnowing of firms looks inevitable. Calls by SeafoodSource to three processors in Dalian and Qingdao suggested firms are worried. An executive at one of the processors stated he didn’t want to comment or have his firm named as “we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”
China’s latest drive to curb chronic water pollution appears driven by new urgency to guarantee drinking water resources as aquifers dry up. A circular published by the Agriculture Ministry and the Environment Ministry on 6 November listed a range of measures that local government is expected to implement. These include reducing the use of chemicals in aquaculture, promotion of biological-based feed, and rice-fish pond production.
According to the circular, “All localities and departments should extensively carry out propaganda and education on agricultural and rural pollution control, publicize policy requirements, and carry out technical assistance.”
