How rich will the Chinese rice bowl be? Building a "blue granary" ->We are doing this ->asking for food from the ocean, marine fisheries | biology | blue

Today is the 15th World Oceans Day. On the azure planet we live on, the oceans that make up 71% of the Earth's surface contain abundant biological resources. China is a maritime power, dotted with port cities along its long coastline. The hardworking and intelligent Chinese people have led the world in aquaculture technology, turning blue areas into "blue granaries".

Data shows that currently, China has become the world's largest fishing country, with aquaculture products accounting for over 60% of the world's aquaculture production. Marine fisheries have also explored a high-quality development path that combines industrial development with ecological protection, and is green and sustainable.

How rich will our "Chinese rice bowl" be if we ask for food from the ocean? How to build a "blue granary"? What are there in the modern marine fishery biological germplasm resource library? How to preserve fishery germplasm resources samples with high quality? What new varieties have we cultivated? How important is strengthening marine fishery germplasm resources for the "Chinese rice bowl"? Ask to the end ↓

Why do abalone go north to escape the heat and go south to overwinter?

In the ocean, shellfish are found all over rivers, lakes, and seas, with a wide variety of species. Some people get to know shellfish in the ocean from string after string of shell wind chimes, while others start with the delicious food on the table. A plate of delicious clams or abalone paired with the summer evening breeze is the most enjoyable. Recently, fishermen in Lianjiang County, Fujian Province have been very busy because there are 1.2 billion abalone waiting to be transported to the north, and in winter they have to go south. Why do abalone living in the sea move seasonally?

Recently, on the abalone farming platform near Dongluo Island in Tailu Town, Lianjiang County, fishermen were busy transporting 1.2 billion abalone to Shandong, Liaoning and other places to escape the summer heat.

The workers salvaged and loaded abalone breeding cages from the sea through manual relay, and transferred them to live water abalone transport ships docked in the nearby waters. In the next few days, these semi-finished abalone will embark on a new year of "summer vacation" under the careful care of the staff.

Farming abalone has extremely strict requirements for water temperature, quality, and marine environment. In order to improve the survival rate of aquaculture and expand the breeding space, Lianjiang adopts the abalone farming method of "south abalone and north abalone", which means that the abalone is transported by live water transport ships to Rongcheng, Shandong for summer vacation before every summer, and then transported back to the hometown sea area for winter in November.

Fisherman Wu Zhangyu from Houwan Village, Lianjiang County: Currently, the water temperature in the south is rising, and the density of fishing and aquaculture is high. It is very dangerous to spend summer here, so all of them have been moved to the north. The water temperature in the north is currently low and relatively safe. Abalone can be eaten in areas with low water temperature, which increases its survival rate and weight, making it more cost-effective for fishermen.

After fishermen in Lianjiang explored a new way to move abalone to the north to escape the summer heat, the survival rate of abalone in summer increased from 40% to over 80%. Through a round trip between the north and south, it can also reduce the risks of summer typhoons and red tides in the south to abalone farming, while also meeting the demand for abalone markets in both the north and south, ensuring stable abalone prices.

How to avoid abalone loss during the journey from north to south?

The "North South Relay" model has improved the efficiency of abalone farming, but according to local fishermen, the "journey" of abalone from north to south only takes about 80 hours per journey. How can we avoid abalone loss during this long time?

It is understood that there are 700 million semi-finished abalone and 500 million green abalone seedlings in Lianjiang County this year, which will be transported by land and sea to Rongcheng, Shandong, Dalian, Liaoning and other places for underwater aquaculture before mid June. Among them, the vast majority of abalone will be transported by large live water transport ships.

Wu Yongshou, a fisherman from Houwan Village on the Lianjiang Line: These two boats are professional abalone transport ships specially designed for abalone transportation. The water circulation system inside is different from other live water boats. It is spray type, which makes the water flow more uniform and the water exchange rate greater. Another factor is the amount of dissolved oxygen. We have specially equipped an air compressor to forcibly add oxygen directly to the water. In severe cases, we also add a certain amount of pure oxygen.

In recent years, the abalone industry in Lianjiang has shown a leapfrog development, becoming an important industry for the people of Lianjiang to lift themselves out of poverty and achieve prosperity, as well as for rural revitalization. According to statistics, the aquaculture area of abalone in the county reached 22000 mu last year, with a yield of 54200 tons and an output value of about 6.5 billion yuan.

How to build a "blue granary" for farming, animal husbandry, and fishing?

The abalone in Fujian has embarked on a journey north, and there is also a batch of white butterfly shell seedlings that are about to grow vigorously. A batch of white butterfly shell seedlings have been released into the sea for marine ecosystem restoration at a marine aquaculture platform located in Ledong County, Hainan Province. How does farming, animal husbandry, and fishing create a "blue granary" for offshore aquaculture platforms?

The white butterfly shells are densely distributed on the fishing net, and the staff of the offshore breeding platform are conducting experimental releases of the white butterfly shells. White butterfly shell is a second level protected aquatic wildlife in China. As a unique species of pearl shell in the South China Sea, the number of white butterfly shells here has been decreasing year by year. About 10000 white butterfly shell seedlings were deployed in this experiment, and in the future, a large number of them are planned to be deployed on breeding platforms to improve the surrounding marine ecosystem. In recent years, Ledong County has vigorously developed the marine economy and built modern smart marine ranches. While conducting deep-sea aquaculture, we also pay attention to ecological conservation and restoration, continuously increase the cultivation of artificial fish reefs, provide high-quality habitats for marine organisms, and carry out value-added release and ecological restoration to conserve marine biological resources.

Lin Caixi, the person in charge of the offshore aquaculture platform: As of now, 15300 square meters of artificial fish reefs have been deployed, mainly to restore marine ecology and optimize the marine environment. It provides a three-dimensional ecological base for fish, shrimp, algae, shellfish, ginseng, and others. This year, we have released 100000 fish fry and are expected to produce 3 million pounds of fishing goods by the end of the year, with a value of around 90 million.

What are there in the modern marine fishery biological germplasm resource library?

When it comes to the continuous breakthroughs in marine aquaculture technology, one thing cannot be ignored, which is the National Marine Fisheries Biological Germplasm Resource Bank located in Qingdao. It is the largest investment scale, largest preservation scale, and most advanced facility of marine fishery biological germplasm resources in China so far. So what are there in it?

Xu Dong, Deputy Director of the Research and Development Center of the Marine Fisheries Biological Resources Library at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences: The living stock of the National Marine Fisheries Biological Germplasm Resources Library mainly preserves the living bodies of fish, shrimp, and shellfish. We also store specimens of various fish, shrimp, and shellfish in the form of a group library in the archives. From 1946 to the present, specimens have been collected and preserved, and the time scale of collection is relatively long.

On October 28, 2021, the National Marine Fisheries Biological Germplasm Resources Bank was unveiled and put into operation at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences. At present, the resource library has collected and preserved over 140000 samples of various marine fishery biological resources.

How to preserve fishery germplasm resources samples with high quality?

Precious samples of fishery germplasm resources are more difficult to preserve than plant seeds. So how are these samples preserved with high quality in the germplasm resource library?

Xu Dong, Deputy Director of the Research and Development Center for Marine Fisheries Biological Resources at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, said: "We have the country's first fully automated ultra-low temperature cold storage for marine fishery organisms, and it is also the most automated marine fishery biological gene resource storage facility in the country at present.". At present, our repository can hold up to 400000 copies, which can meet the storage plan of the resource repository for 5 to 10 years. At present, the main genetic information resources preserved here are marine fishery organisms, including DNA, RNA, and so on. Due to the extremely strict requirements for the storage environment temperature of these samples, the storage temperature of ultra-low temperature cold storage is set at minus 80 ℃ year-round.

What new varieties have been cultivated in the fishery germplasm resource library?

Aquatic germplasm is the material foundation for technological innovation and seed industry development in aquatic breeding. What new fishery varieties have Chinese scientists cultivated based on germplasm resources in the germplasm resource library?

Xu Dong, Deputy Director of the Research and Development Center for Marine Fisheries Biological Resources at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences: Currently, there are a total of 18 new varieties of marine fish breeding in our country, and 8 new varieties led by the Yellow Sea. A representative new species in the Yellow Sea is the turbot, also known as the turbot.

More than 30 years ago, China imported turbot from the UK. After 7 years of scientific research and development, the cultivation of turbot in China has accounted for more than 80% of the global total cultivation.

Luan Sheng, Deputy Director of the Germplasm Resources and Engineering Breeding Research Office of the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences: This is a specimen of Chinese shrimp, also known as Oriental shrimp. Chinese shrimp is a native wild species of ours, with delicious meat and a very fast growth rate. So six new varieties of shrimp have been cultivated in China.

Over the past 70 years since its establishment, the Yellow Sea Institute has cultivated a total of 28 new fishery species. The National Marine Fisheries Biological Germplasm Resource Library has achieved interconnection and full process information traceability among people, environment, equipment, and samples, enabling the safe preservation and sustainable development and utilization of various precious marine fishery biological germplasm resources.

How important is the development of fishery germplasm resources for the "Chinese rice bowl"?

Ensuring the supply of aquatic products through aquatic germplasm is the "chip" that supports the green development of aquaculture. So, how important is it to build a large-scale and comprehensive marine fishery germplasm resource library and expand the marine fishery population to secure the "Chinese rice bowl"?

Chen Songlin, academician of the CAE Member: China is a country with very rich germplasm resources. These germplasm resources were scattered in rivers, lakes and seas before, which contain many excellent genetic resources. The construction of marine fishery germplasm resources bank is an important means and important platform to further tap germplasm resources and protect excellent germplasm resources.

Aquaculture is an important industry to ensure food safety in China, and 80% of the total production of aquatic products in China comes from aquaculture. In 2021, China's aquaculture production was close to 54 million tons, of which 28 million tons were fish, and breeding technology is the key to developing the aquaculture seed industry.

Chen Songlin, academician of the CAE Member: In the past 30 years, China's aquatic seed industry has made good progress. Developing modern biological breeding technology and cultivating new aquatic varieties with disease resistance, high yield and quality have become our important goals. In recent years, China has made significant progress in modern biological breeding technology, and some new molecular breeding technologies, such as disease resistance gene selection technology, gene editing technology, etc., have been successfully applied.