Shrimp and crabs fattened up in hot springs and sold on the market, villagers' annual income increases by over 100,000 yuan

Because it is too close to the sea, combined with its unique underground structure, every well drilled in Songjialing Village in Haiqing Town yields seawater. When winter arrives, while other villages that farm shrimp and crabs become idle, the farmers of Songjialing Village are instead exceptionally busy. The villagers collect shrimp and crabs from the surrounding villages to store and raise them, and after the shrimp and crabs are fattened up around Spring Festival, they sell them. From this alone, each household's annual income increases by over 100,000 yuan, and the reason the villagers can store and raise shrimp and crabs so well in winter is the warm seawater pumped up from the wells.

Shrimp and crabs grow fat in insulated greenhouses in the cold winter

Yesterday, the reporter came to Songjialing Village in Haiqing Town, where insulated greenhouses could be seen everywhere, and villagers were busy going in and out of their own greenhouses. Villager Wang Zepu told the reporter that after October, when the weather gradually turned cold, the villagers had already moved the swimming crabs and zebra shrimp they were farming from open-air crab ponds into warm greenhouses. Wang Zepu's family has four greenhouses, three for storing and raising swimming crabs and one for storing and raising zebra shrimp. Entering the crab greenhouse, more than twenty cement crab ponds were neatly arranged within the several-hundred-square-meter greenhouse, and Wang Zepu's wife was checking the swimming crabs pond by pond. Looking down from the edge of the pond, several swimming crabs were exposed in the thin fine sand at the bottom, each plump and strong, with the largest one weighing over one jin. "In winter the temperature is low, and the crabs all reduce their activity. With good routine care, swimming crabs grow fatter and fatter," Wang Zepu told the reporter. His family began engaging in aquaculture in the 1990s and switched to greenhouse farming 8 years ago. At present, each of his crab greenhouses stores more than three thousand jin of crabs.

Entering Wang Zepu's zebra shrimp greenhouse, it was pitch black inside, and zebra shrimp are nocturnal animals that do not like bright light. By the light of a flashlight, the reporter saw the zebra shrimp lying quietly at the bottom of the shrimp pond. Starting from the waist, each stripe on their bodies had a clear thin white line along its outer edge, as distinctly black and white as a zebra.

Underground seawater helps villagers get on the road to prosperity

It is understood that due to its special geographical location, the groundwater drilled in Songjialing Village is not fresh water but brine with a salinity at around 24°C, which is caused precisely by seawater infiltration. In addition, the well water in winter also maintains a temperature between 15°C and 17°C. "Zebra shrimp can be considered the aristocrat among shrimp, with very high requirements for their living environment. This salinity and temperature are very suitable for the growth of zebra shrimp."

Wang Zezong, the Party secretary of Songjialing Village, confirmed this statement. The tap water their village drinks comes from a place four kilometers away, but relying on warm underground seawater, Songjialing has made it possible to raise shrimp and crabs in winter, while other aquaculture villages without underground warm seawater can only sell their shrimp and crabs to Songjialing Village before winter begins. After being stored and raised until Spring Festival, the shrimp and crabs grow fat and their value also doubles, and the villagers all have a very good income before Spring Festival.

Forming an industrial chain and selling to markets nationwide

Wang Zezong introduced that the village's aquaculture greenhouses store and raise more than 80,000 jin of zebra shrimp and 150,000 jin of swimming crabs, and even so, demand still exceeds supply. Since the beginning of winter, shrimp and crab dealers have come from all over the country, hauling them out by the truckload. Songjialing Village's shrimp and crabs are sold to dozens of cities nationwide and have become high-end goods among shrimp and crab products. Among the many markets, the Wenzhou market has the greatest demand, and the local market already highly recognizes Songjialing's shrimp and crabs. Before Spring Festival, Songjialing zebra shrimp can be seen in major hotels. The success of aquaculture in Songjialing Village has also driven employment for more than 3,000 people in the whole village and the surrounding areas. Major logistics enterprises gather here, forming a shrimp and crab economic chain.