Why is offshore aquaculture like gambling, with risks that must be borne alone?

The power of No. 9 Typhoon “Rammasun” was shocking: when “Rammasun” made landfall in Wenchang City, Hainan on July 18, its maximum central wind force reached force 17, making it the strongest typhoon to make landfall in South China since 1973, and also the strongest among the typhoons that have made landfall in Guangdong and Guangxi since 1949.

Wherever “Rammasun” passed, the offshore aquaculture industry suffered catastrophic damage. When a China Youth Daily reporter recently interviewed in Qinzhou, Guangxi, the hometown of Chinese large oysters, besides seeing the devastation after the damage, various confusions also arose: in the face of such a super typhoon, with the government department issuing early warnings, why did some fishermen still risk staying at sea? Why, despite knowing the high risk, did many fishermen still put in everything they had and even borrow high-interest loans to invest in aquaculture? Why does such an industry worth billions of yuan lack a corresponding insurance protection mechanism, so that after one typhoon, tens of millions of aquaculture households are ruined?

⟦NL> The boat is our life

It is hard to imagine that in a typhoon of more than force 10, someone would choose to stay on the sea with fierce winds and high waves instead of going ashore for safety.

At 9:00 on July 19, the Xinxing Squadron of the Qinnan Fire Brigade in Qinzhou City received an alarm saying that 3 fishermen near the Qinjiang Bridge in Shajing Port were in danger and urgently needed rescue. At that time, the typhoon wind force reached force 12, and the situation was very critical.

Braving the danger of being blown into the water at any moment, Long Jianzhi, deputy instructor of the Xinxing Squadron, led 6 firefighters to rush to the scene. In the overwhelming storm, a small fishing boat was seen shaking violently in the river about 60 m wide and having difficulty docking.

Mr. Li, 33, was one of the 3 people trapped on the boat and also the owner of the fishing boat. Although before the typhoon arrived, staff of the Jianshan Town government repeatedly urged him to go ashore for safety, he still could not stop worrying about the boat. After going ashore, he took two workers back onto the boat, wanting to handle some emergency situations when the typhoon came.

However, the ferocity of this typhoon, the kind not seen in 40 years, far exceeded his imagination.

“Both iron anchors weighing more than 30 jin were straightened by the wind!” After anchoring, the small boat became a leaf in the vast ocean. Mr. Li quickly and the crew opened full throttle and headed toward the shore against the wind. Fortunately, the typhoon did not sweep this fishing boat into the sea, but blew it to near the mouth of the Qinjiang River, two kilometers from Shajing Port. However, because the wind and waves were too strong, the boat had difficulty docking and being secured, and could be blown away again at any time.

After the firefighters arrived, following half an hour of rescue, Mr. Li's fishing boat was secured with firefighting ropes, and he and the two workers were then rescued ashore.

Recalling this experience, Mr. Li, who has more than ten years of seafaring experience, also felt frightened afterward, but he said that choosing to take the risk and stay at sea at that time was an instinct, “For us fishermen, the boat is our life!”

Mr. Li told a China Youth Daily reporter that this boat worth more than 100,000 yuan had no insurance of any kind. During the typhoon, the boat's roof was torn open, and these days Mr. Li is repairing it together with workers. In addition to the fishing boat being damaged, several oyster rafts he raised were also damaged by the typhoon, with economic losses of nearly one million yuan.

“Our losses are considered small. Many people with loans over at Longmen Port have gone bankrupt.” Mr. Li's wife, Ms. Huang, said that after this experience, she feels money is not important and she is now very open-minded about it.

Besides protecting the production tools they rely on for survival, some aquaculture households also told reporters that the reason they risked staying in the sea when the typhoon came was worrying that after the typhoon blew the oyster rafts into disorder, disputes or theft would occur. During the days of self-rescue after the disaster, fishermen occasionally reported that their few surviving oyster rafts had been stolen, adding several hundred thousand yuan in losses.

Doing aquaculture is just like gambling

Under the guidance of Mr. Li's family, a China Youth Daily reporter came to Longmen Port Town, the most severely affected area in Qinzhou City. On July 24, going out to sea from the Qishierjing wharf, what used to be densely arranged oyster rafts and fish rafts was now scattered by the wind, and broken wood, foam blocks and dead fish left by the damaged rafts drifted everywhere on the surface of Maowei Sea.

When 65-year-old Liang Bangyun, a villager of Beicun in Longmen Port Town, was seen, he was driving a small wooden boat around the sea collecting foam to repair damaged oyster rafts. The high-intensity work under the scorching sun made his throat hoarse, and it was difficult for him to speak.

After the typhoon in 1996 left Liang Bangyun's family with nothing, he began working everywhere to earn money. In 2001, he began raising oysters. After years of development, he and his two sons already owned 7 sets of oyster rafts, assets worth more than 2 million yuan.

“People say doing aquaculture is like gambling. If you earn a little this year, you add a little more; if you earn a little next year, you add a little more, and in the end you put all the money you earned into ‘betting’.” Liang Bangyun said that in this typhoon, 6 of his family's 7 oyster rafts were blown away. The cycle of fate made him sigh: after 18 years of hard work, one typhoon overnight blew him back to before liberation.

Qinzhou Haihua Oyster Industry Technology Development Co., Ltd. is the leading enterprise in Longmen Port Town. Through a cooperative model, the company drives more than 200 farming households to engage in large oyster aquaculture, with a farming area of nearly 1,000 mu.

On the afternoon of July 24, when a China Youth Daily reporter came to Qinzhou Haihua Oyster Industry Technology Development Co., Ltd. located in the center of Longmen Port Town, general manager Zheng Hongming was out guiding fishermen in post-disaster self-rescue, leaving only his wife, Ms. Liang, at home to look after the enterprise.