Fishery production develops steadily, industrial transformation and upgrading accelerate

This website news  Since the beginning of this year, the nationwide construction of modern fisheries has continued to take solid steps, fishery production has developed steadily, major policies benefiting fishermen have been introduced, and resource conservation work has been solidly advanced. Closely focusing on ensuring supply, transforming the development model, and adjusting the structure, the fishery system has sought innovation and change in developing modern aquaculture models, innovating marketing services, strengthening industrialized operations, increasing marine ranch construction, and advancing fishery informatization, carrying out many effective explorations and achieving relatively good economic and social benefits, providing new impetus for the transformation and upgrading of traditional fisheries toward modern fisheries.

Production has maintained stable development, while processing and exports face challenges. Statistical data show that in the first 3 quarters of this year, fishery production maintained a stable development trend, with active market transactions and sufficient supply. According to statistics from 20 major fishery-producing provinces nationwide, in the first 3 quarters, national aquatic product output was 41.5121 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.63%, of which aquaculture output was 31.7548 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.56%, and capture output was 9.7573 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.25%. According to another survey, in the first 3 quarters, transactions in aquatic product wholesale markets were active, aquatic product prices declined slightly while remaining stable, trading volume increased by 4.8% year-on-year, and the comprehensive average price decreased slightly by 0.75% year-on-year. Affected by weaker prices, fishermen's production benefits showed a downward trend. Affected by weak demand in the international aquatic product consumer market, aquatic product processing and import-export trade face relatively great difficulties. According to customs statistics, from January to August, aquatic product export volume decreased slightly by 1.69% year-on-year, and export value decreased by 5.84% year-on-year; among major export markets, all showed a downward trend except ASEAN. As export-oriented enterprises began to turn to the domestic market, other countries also aimed more attention at China. Since the beginning of this year, the quantity of imported aquatic products sold domestically has increased significantly, and competition in the domestic market has been unprecedentedly fierce. Facing upgraded market competition, tightening resource and environmental constraints, and continuously rising costs, aquatic product processing and export trade both face unprecedented challenges.

Fishery ecological construction continues to advance, and the oil price subsidy adjustment policy has been introduced. The Ministry of Agriculture has continuously intensified efforts to clean up and rectify “juéhùwǎng” (nets that catch all fish) and “three-no” fishing-related vessels. According to incomplete statistics, as of the end of September, across the country nearly 16,000 “three-no” fishing-related vessels had been banned, nearly 35,000 vessel-times of various types of illegal fishing vessels had been investigated and dealt with, and nearly 330,000 illegal fishing gear items (pieces) had been cleaned up, effectively forming and maintaining a high-pressure posture in crackdowns and rectification. Fishery resource environmental protection and ecological restoration work has advanced in an orderly manner, and the release of various aquatic seedlings throughout the year is expected to reach more than 30 billion tails (grains). Activities to establish aquatic healthy aquaculture demonstration counties and demonstration farms have been carried out in depth, and it is expected that by the end of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, aquatic healthy aquaculture demonstration farms will reach more than 5,600. In June of this year, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly issued the Notice on Adjusting the Oil Price Subsidy Policy for Domestic Fishery Capture and Aquaculture to Promote the Sustainable and Healthy Development of Fisheries, implementing the concept of ecological priority, comprehensively considering fishery development, fishermen's livelihoods, and fishery area stability, and using part of the funds for fishermen's vessel reduction and production transition, fishing vessel renewal and renovation, resource conservation, closed fishing season and fishing moratorium subsidies, informatization construction, aquaculture infrastructure renovation, fishing port beacon construction, and other urgent needs of modern fishery construction, providing strong support for the transformation and upgrading of the fishery industry.

Transformation and upgrading are accelerating, with many highlights in improving quality and efficiency. Various regions actively develop energy-saving, water-saving, ecological, efficient, and safe modern aquaculture models, promote the integrated development of aquaculture production with resource and environmental protection, processing and circulation, and recreational fisheries, pay more attention to brand building and the application of modern information technology, and a number of new models of modern fishery development with remarkable results and prominent highlights have emerged. Examples include the “Zhangzidao model” in Dalian, Liaoning Province, of “marine ranch ecological aquaculture + modern enterprise management + brand marketing”; the “Zetan model” in Laizhou, Shandong Province, of “three-dimensional ecological circular aquaculture of shellfish, algae and sea cucumber + Internet of Things management + cooperative whole-industry-chain operation services”; the “Huashan model” in Qianjiang, Hubei Province, of “rice planting + crayfish seedling breeding, grow-out, and processing + comprehensive utilization of by-products”; and the “offshore processing model” of “large processing vessels directly processing at sea + purchase vessels providing full cold-chain transport + fishing vessels producing by order”. According to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of the year, the proportions of the added value of the primary, secondary, and tertiary fishery industries in the total added value of the fishery economy were 59%, 17%, and 24%, respectively; among these, the proportions of the primary and secondary industries each decreased by 1 percentage point compared with the previous year, while the proportion of the tertiary industry increased by 2 percentage points compared with the previous year.

In the fourth quarter, fishing moratoriums in all sea areas have fully ended, capture production has entered the peak season, and aquaculture production has also ushered in a concentrated harvest period. It is expected that, provided no major natural disasters or emergencies occur, annual aquatic product output will maintain a basic trend of slight increase while remaining stable. Affected by the dual factors of output growth and relatively weak prices, fishermen's income is expected to rise steadily, but the growth rate will narrow. The annual total aquatic product trade value, the number of aquatic product processing enterprises, and the output value of the processing industry may all decline. The pace of integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries will further accelerate, and the development speed of recreational fisheries and e-commerce is expected to increase significantly.