Rapid Development of Dinghai

3 min read

The abyssal waters far from the madding crowd，where the water turbidity is optimum for tuna fishing on any sunny day，is witnessing the immeasurable potentials of Dinghai serving as”God’s favoured one”to lead China’s deep-sea fishery into an exciting，brand-new era.

Irhile the fast rise of the Dinghai-based Zhoushan Pelagic Fishery Base is good news for all seafood fanatics living in China’s Yangtze River Delta，it does not bring joyful tidings to the tuna and their jolly friends frolicking in the marinepelagic environment-the largest aquatic habitat on Earth and home to 11%of known fi sh species.

The abyssal waters far from the madding crowd，where the water turbidity is optimum for tuna fi shing on any sunny day, is witnessing the immeasurable potentials of Dinghai serving as “God’s favoured one”to lead China’s deep-sea fi shery into an exciting, brand-new era.

With a state-level deep-sea fi shing base that is developing alongside a state-level marine technology model site situated on its beautiful coastline, Dinghai is no doubt a forerunner in modern pelagic fi shery. The Zhoushan Pelagic Fishery Base aims to exemplify Zhejiang Province’s resolution in fi shing industrial upgradin and to rank amongst the world’s largest pelagic aquatic products distribution centers. The goal set for the year 2017 is 6 billion yuan in total output value and 5.65 billion yuan from pelagic aquatic products processing.

The pelagic fi shery base is making exciting progress with each passing day, throughvigorous boat replacement and increasing deep-sea fi shing scales. Construction of a pelagic fi shing’ armada’ has kicked off in the base. The fi rst half of the yea 2016 saw four fi shing companies from other provinces joining in, and about 100 newfi shing boats are estimated to be launched into operation by the end of the year. Co-operation with Macao and Portuguese speaking countries is entering a new phase, with a joint venture specializing in pelagic fi shing already set up and ready for operation. The base also works closely with pelagic fi shery practitioners in Angola, the Republic of Kiribati, Iran and Argentina, and runs fi shing sites in Peru and Uruguay.

The fast-developing West Dock Fishing Port ensures world-class cold chain logistical support for Zhoushan’s pelagic future. Collaboration with six academic institutionsand the University of Tsukuba in Japan is another driving force behind the pelagic ‘ revolution’ that is happening in Dinghai.

Caught using the most sustainable methods, the fresh tuna is processed on board and fl ash-frozen at the peak of freshness to preserve the best quality possible-a technology that ‘ locks-in’ the quality and goodness of the catch. Fresh caught salmon is processed in both vessels and shore plants, with the same attention to quality and packed to customers’ specifi cations.

Another goal of the base is to build the country’s largest squid trade center that also serves as a price benchmark for international squid trade. The base also runs a state-level pelagic fi shing industrial alliance that has attracted 43 fi shing companies and cold chain suppliers.

The fi shery base also functions as a training and communication platform to ensure a talent pool of workers who have had extensive training in the proper handling of the fi sh in order to provide the best product available. The 2017 annual meeting ofthe World Tuna Purse Seine Organization (WTPO) was held in Zhoushan on July 5-6, andit was the fi rst time in the history of the organization that the meeting was held in a Chinese city.