Survey of the Current State of Wuchang Fish Industry Development: A Case Study of Ezhou City

Wuchang fish (Megalobrama amblycephala) is a valuable freshwater fish species unique to Ezhou, Hubei, with extremely high economic value and broad market prospects. The famous lines by the great leader Mao Zedong, "Having just drunk the water of Changsha, now eating Wuchang fish," made Wuchang fish renowned both at home and abroad. In 2009, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce recognized Liangzi Lake Wuchang fish in Ezhou as a geographical indication of origin, giving wings to Wuchang fish to leap over the dragon gate. As early as 1992, the Ministry of Agriculture approved Ezhou as a national-level Wuchang fish original breed farm, and formally awarded the designation in 2004, further injecting momentum into the development of the Wuchang fish industry. After years of effort, the Wuchang fish brand has gained a certain degree of recognition both domestically and internationally, and the industry has developed to a certain scale, playing an important role in raising farmers' incomes and expanding Ezhou's visibility.
    
     Current State of Wuchang Fish Industry Development and Main Existing Problems
    
     Based on the investigation conducted by the 2011 autumn municipal department-level cadre class survey team of the Ezhou Municipal Party School, the current state of Wuchang fish industry development in Ezhou and its main existing problems can be summarized as follows: having capacity but difficulty in fully leveraging it; having conditions but failing to utilize them effectively; having advantages but not fully exploiting them; having markets but lacking means to develop them. To facilitate a comprehensive and intuitive reflection of the situation, we mainly describe it from the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the Wuchang fish industry. The upstream mainly includes research and development capacity, intellectual property, technical standards, and brand marketing; the midstream mainly includes primary aquaculture, production and processing, and market expansion; the downstream mainly includes information services, training and consulting, after-sales service, and product promotion.
     (I) Upstream
     Ezhou City possesses advantages in Wuchang fish origin intellectual property, technical standards, and cutting-edge scientific research, especially the potential advantage and enormous value of the Wuchang fish origin geographical indication.
     1. Scientific research and development. In 1992, Ezhou City was designated by the Ministry of Agriculture as a national-level Wuchang fish original breed farm, and was formally awarded the designation in 2004. The state and province have consistently provided financial and technical support and guarantees. Experts and technical personnel from the Ezhou Wuchang Fish Original Breed Farm have carried out close cooperation with experts from research institutions such as China Agricultural University, Huazhong Agricultural University, and the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, achieving remarkable results. In 2009, it underwent review, and among all 40 indicators, 39 were rated excellent and 1 was rated qualified, and it was evaluated by the Ministry of Agriculture as a national excellent national-level original breed farm. Through cooperation and effort, the Ezhou Wuchang Fish Original Breed Farm has become the most ideal and effective pilot testing site for experts to conduct applied research, providing strong support and technical guarantees for the protection and development of Wuchang fish original breeds. At the same time, experts from within and outside the city are conducting development research on superior Wuchang fish varieties to improve the breed quality and economic and social benefits of Wuchang fish.
     2. Intellectual property. In 2009, Wuchang fish was recognized by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce as a geographical indication of origin. Being recognized as a geographical indication means that this product meets green and environmental protection requirements. Therefore, the geographical indication contains enormous economic and social value.
     3. Technical standards. The state has already issued technical standards for Wuchang fish, and most of the parameters of these technical standards are based on data provided by Ezhou. Therefore, these technical standards are still temporarily in Ezhou. Based on the current practice of promoting Wuchang fish, from breeding to aquaculture, as well as production and processing, the standards provided by the municipal Wuchang Fish Original Breed Farm are basically implemented.
     4. Brand marketing. At present, Wuchang fish products, with their unique texture and taste, occupy a place in the domestic market and have gained a certain degree of market recognition; Wuchang fish aquaculture has been promoted to more than 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country, and has successfully gone abroad, settling in nearly 20 countries including Mexico and Japan. Wuchang fish has become a shining calling card for Ezhou's external exchanges.
     Main existing problems: the hardware facilities for scientific research still cannot meet actual needs; the development and utilization of the Wuchang fish geographical indication is far from sufficient; the promotion of Wuchang fish domestically and internationally is still in its initial stage, and the importance and demand for technical standards are not yet very evident; marketing concepts urgently need updating.
     (II) Midstream
     We mainly refer to aquaculture and production and processing within Ezhou City.
⟧     1. Aquaculture. The city's total cultivable water surface reaches 608,600 mu, with the Wuchang Fish Original Breed Farm as the radiation center, and 100,000 mu of intensive culture ponds have been planned and constructed: the Donggou 10-li Pearl Corridor, the Dushan 10-kilometer Aquatic Products Corridor, the Sanshan Intensive Culture Zone, the Miaoling 10-kilometer Special Aquatic Products Corridor, and several other major areas, which have already reached a considerable aquaculture scale, with an annual output of nearly 300,000 tons of commercial fish.