HAIKOU: Zeng Guangneng, a fish farmer in Wenchang, a city in south China’s island province of Hainan, has experienced several major life changes. His grandfather was a sea fisherman, his father bred fish on the shore, and now he moved fish ponds into a building.
In a new, two-story breeding demonstration building of Fengjiawan Modern Fishery Industrial Park in Wenchang, Zeng carefully checked the growth of fish fry in the aquaculture ponds.
As one of the first groups of fish farmers in the park, Zeng moved in there in May last year and has benefited from the modern way of breeding aquatics.
The building adopts multi-story breeding modes to increase the space for ponds. During the first three-year trial period, the park also exempted these fish farmers from fees, including rent and water supply costs.
From April to May this year, Zeng sold over 250,000 high-end fish fry with a total income of about 1.5 million yuan (about 225,000 U.S. dollars).
“Compared with the traditional greenhouse breeding mode, temperature and light are controlled here. It is also easier to monitor diseases. It is conducive to cultivating high-end fry varieties,” said Zeng.
Fengjiawan Bay used to be a famous base for shrimp seedlings in China in the late 1980s. However, a long-term, extensive fish culture that involved uncontrolled tailwater discharge had caused pollution on the beach. In 2016, nearly 1,000 households of aquaculture farmers lived along the Fengjiawan Bay coastline, and the dense pipelines and widespread fish ponds looked like scars when seen from the sky.
Last year, the local government relocated 195 households of fish farmers at Fengjiawan Bay to restore the environment. Instead, they planted mangroves there. –Agencies
