Hainan, a leading aquaculture region in China, is betting big on offshore cage aquaculture production.
The province has granted a subsidy of CNY 40,000 to 200,000 (USD 6,080 to 30,400, EUR 5,210 to 26,050) per cage or pen of high-value species like pomfret and croaker, according to the provincial office of the Ocean and Fisheries Bureau.
Journalists from the provincial TV station were recently given access to view some of the cages already in the sea. On their tour, they were shown feeding systems for pomfret, which will eventually feed China’s domestic market.
Journalists were told that the province hopes to add 750 new offshore cages or nets in 2018, adding to the 8,800 nets of varying design currently in Hainan’s offshore waters that have an annual production of 40,000 metric tons. Notably, the bureau also said it is hoping to install three “intelligent” large-scale offshore pens with remote feed management, and hinted the higher CNY 200,000 (USD 30,400, EUR 26,050) subsidy will back this option.
The subsidies are a signal to the sector that Hainan’s government still supports it, even as environmental enforcement has seen the closure of numerous on-land aquaculture facilities. Many of those closures have targeted farms producing tilapia, on the grounds that they were unlicensed or polluting freshwater systems including rivers and lakes.
In recent years, the province has seen major growth of tilapia production, but this sector has fought an ongoing turf war with the island’s bustling tourist industry – tropical Hainan is frequently marketed as “China’s Hawaii” in the national press. The province’s support for offshore aquaculture appears to offer several advantages for Hainan, as the government expects it to free up land, curb pollution, and supply high value fish to the island’s tourist trade.
Photo courtesy of Fishfirst.cn
