Abalone Farming Migrates North To South, Migratory Bird-style Farming Expands Fishery Space

Abalone is a kind of aquatic product that has extremely strict requirements on water temperature, water quality and sea environment. In order to avoid the adverse effects of severe cold in winter in the north and high temperatures in summer in the south on their growth and to increase survival rate and breeding profits, Shandong and Fujian and other places adopted the "north-south migration" breeding model, which improved the survival rate and quality of abalone and promoted the rapid development of fisheries. 

Fujian abalone escapes summer heat in the north

Not long ago, 150,000 cages of abalone from Lianjiang County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province just boarded a live water transport ship from Rongcheng City, Shandong Province and returned to Lianjiang County, Fuzhou City for the winter. Since 2011, farmers have begun to try the "north-south migration" farming model of abalone, which was applied on a large scale in 2015.

Lianjiang County borders the Taiwan Strait to the east and the Minjiang River estuary to the south. It has a long coastline and many natural harbors. The water quality here is clear, the tide is smooth, the salinity is high, and the water temperature is moderate, providing a unique environment for the growth of abalone. In 1989, Lianjiang began to experiment with abalone farming, initially conducting factory farming on land. In 1993, Lianjiang innovatively conducted a sea experiment by surrounding a plastic bucket with a fishing net, flipping it upside down, and hanging it on a kelp floating rope. This became the prototype of the abalone breeding cage. In 1996, abalone cages were improved and used in large-scale offshore farming.

The "north-south migration" breeding model has a long history. Abalone farming has extremely strict requirements on water temperature, water quality and sea environment. In order to improve the survival rate of breeding and expand the breeding space, as early as 2003, Lianjiang County had begun to explore a breeding model of moving abalone from north to south and swapping winter and summer. That is, abalone would be transported to Rongcheng, Shandong to escape the summer heat in April and May every year, and then shipped again in November. Huilianjiang sea area spends the winter, thereby avoiding the impact of low or high sea water temperatures on the growth of abalone, and also reducing the risks caused by typhoons and red tides in summer.

Shandong abalone goes south to overwinter

Rongcheng City, Shandong Province is a famous mariculture center in Shandong Province. The seawater quality remains above the national Class II water quality standard all year round, providing a unique growth environment for abalone, scallops, kelp and a variety of fish. Among them, Rongcheng abalone is famous for its large size, delicious meat and rich nutrition. In 2011, "Rongcheng Abalone" won the geographical indication product certification from the former Ministry of Agriculture and became a high-quality product that attracted much attention.

In early November, as the weather in the north gradually cooled down, abalone fry and semi-finished abalone from Rongcheng were gradually transported to Fujian to survive the winter, and then returned to Rongcheng waters in April and May of the following year to escape the scorching heat. Why among many seafood products, only abalone needs to migrate north and south year after year? This started with a cold wave more than 20 years ago. Abalone has high requirements for water temperature. The most suitable water temperature is between 8℃ and 20℃. If the water temperature is too high or too low, abalone will grow slowly or even die. In 2001, a strong cold wave caused huge losses to abalone farming. After that cold wave, farmers began to try to "raise abalone from the north to the south".

How do tens of thousands of tons of abalone migrate? According to reports, during "sea migration", abalone fry and semi-finished abalone will be loaded onto small boats together with cages, and then transferred to live water boats. Through live water transportation, the survival rate of abalone can be significantly improved, and it only takes 4 days to reach the destination. The first step in land transportation is to "farewell" the abalone fry, that is, soak them in an alcohol solution of appropriate concentration so that the abalone fry can be easily peeled off the tiles. The peeled abalone fry are then carefully screened by workers, and those of suitable size and good health are selected for packaging, packaging and loading. Compared with shipping by sea, abalone fry transported by land are more like boarding an "express train", which can reach Fujian, more than 1,600 kilometers away, in just 26 hours. In just one month, 50 million abalone fry arrived in Fujian.

The "Northern Abalone Raising to the South" migration journey of Rongcheng abalone not only effectively solves the problems of high risks, high mortality and high costs faced by abalone overwintering in the north, but also provides new ideas for marine ecological protection, and also greatly speeds up the development of abalone. The growth rate shortens the breeding cycle, improves quality, and significantly improves economic benefits.