A provincial conference on promoting the high-quality development of fishery industry was held in Chenzhou on October 23.

According to the conference, Hunan's fishery industry has maintained a steady growth, with the freshwater product output ranking fifth nationwide.

Statistics shows that, in 2021, Hunan's aquatic product output amounted to 2.661 million tons. The total output value of the fishery industry hit 94.55 billion yuan, increasing by 27% over the previous year.

Hunan is reputed as a "Land of Fish and Rice". In recent years, consolidated efforts have been made to strengthen and accelerate fishery industry development. Fourteen aquatic products are included in the national geological indications (GIs) protection, such as "Nanxian Crayfishes" and "Hanshou softshell turtles". There are 204 aquatic product processors around the province, processing 321,000 tons of products worth 5.48 billion yuan in 2021, which doubled that of 2018.

Tasks have been made to pursue high-quality development of fishery industry and maintain resource conservation. A ten-year fishing ban has been implemented at the watersheds along the Yangtze River Hunan section, Dongting Lake, and four major rivers in Hunan Province – Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui. In the first half of this year, 75 fish varieties have been included in the provincial monitoring system, nearly 30 more than that of 2018. New achievements have been made in sci-tech innovations. There are 163 aquatic breeding species found out, and 10 new species such as the Hefang hybrid crucian carps were cultivated. 

The conference called for implementing the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and boosting high-quality development of fishery industry. We will focus on stabilizing production and ensuring supply, promote eco-friendly and sustainable aquaculture, and explore aquaculture in large-sized waters; optimize industrial layout, strive to revitalize aquatic breeding, and regulate and guide integrated development of rice-fish co-production; protect aquatic organisms and promote sustainable utilization of fishery resources, based on firm implementation of the 10-year fishing ban and three-year safe production plan; facilitate integrated development of the industrial, agricultural, and service sectors, strengthen the leading enterprises, and establish an array of demonstration bases for leisure fishery; and, improve cold-chain transportation, to build the Dongting Lake area into an aquatic industrial cluster with superiority and influence nationwide.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn