How to do efficient aquaculture? The White Horse Lake model is worth considering
White Horse Lake gets its name from the "lake" and its beauty from the "water," and has the reputation of being the "pearl of the belly of northern Jiangsu," and aquaculture has a long history in the local area. The Jiangsu State Farms White Horse Lake Farm, located on the shores of White Horse Lake, has an aquaculture area of 5,100 mu, and its waters are fresh and its ecology diverse. How to use and tap this uniquely favorable high-quality resource to do a good and thorough job of the water article, so that aquaculture benefits show a superimposed trend? This became an important topic facing the farm's aquaculture managers and operators. Fortunately, this was effectively solved and an answer was found this year during the farm's in-depth study and practice of the Scientific Outlook on Development.
New concepts give rise to new models
How can the huge potential of 5,100 mu of water surface be brought into play to produce golden benefits? The farm's aquaculture company made useful explorations and active attempts. In early summer, when the author interviewed at the farm, I learned that in early May, farmers Liu Jinbiao, Dong Jianlin and others at the farm's No. 2 fishery respectively released soft-shelled turtle seedlings into their contracted fish ponds, and upon inquiry this was their demonstration aquaculture of "adult fish + soft-shelled turtle." With this model, fish and soft-shelled turtles can each find their proper place without disturbing each other; the soft-shelled turtles eat natural bait such as small miscellaneous fish in the fish pond, with no need for other cost input, so not only is the cost low and the survival rate high, but they can also fetch the high price of wild soft-shelled turtles on the market. It is understood that this year their "adult fish + soft-shelled turtle" polyculture model has expanded to 600 mu, and using this model can increase net benefits by more than 800 yuan per mu.
In addition, because crayfish have become more and more valuable in recent years, the farm's farmers have also successfully explored and summarized various aquaculture models with crayfish as the mainstay, such as "crayfish + crab + mandarin fish," "lotus root + gorgon fruit + crayfish," and "fingerlings + crayfish + crab." Regarding these "assorted" new efficient aquaculture models, just as Wang Hongbao, manager of the farm's aquaculture company, said: "The 5,100 mu of water surface is like our open-air factory workshop, the more than 160 aquaculture workers are our skilled workers, and the various new aquaculture models are like our core integrated technologies. What we want is to use a modern aquaculture base and efficient aquaculture models to build a modern efficient aquaculture demonstration zone and strive to produce the economic benefits of 10,000 mu of water surface." In this way, would it not be equivalent to "creating" another 5,000 mu of water surface?
Multiple models bring high benefits
What exactly are the benefits of the farm's dazzling array of aquaculture models? Zhou Zhaogen, a large-scale farmer at No. 1 fishery, mixed fingerlings, crayfish and crabs in a 7-mu fish pond, and the net benefit per mu reached 4,900 yuan. Sun Meilin, a science and technology demonstration household in aquaculture, used 7.6 mu of water surface for breeding summer fry and crab seedlings, with a benefit of more than 4,500 yuan per mu. As for the farm's current aquaculture models and benefits, Wang Hongbao, manager of the farm's aquaculture company, vividly called them "punching and kicking" and "a hundred flowers blooming." "As long as the benefits are high, we must try everything! We dare to venture into anything!" When he said this, there was clearly a bit more firmness and confidence in his words. For a long time, the farm has always adhered to the development approach of "coexistence of multiple models and multi-point advancement," so that the aquaculture structure has been continuously adjusted and optimized, with frequent highlights and multiplied benefits. Therefore, the new aquaculture models explored and summarized by the farm have been called the "White Horse Lake model" by local aquaculture experts. Now it seems that all of this is entirely due to the farm's continuous changes in aquaculture thinking and continuous innovation in development concepts in recent years, together with the continuous adjustment and innovation of the aquaculture structure, and it can also be said to have come naturally and followed a logical course.
Excellent services provide strong support
How can it be ensured that the aquaculture models used by each farmer can operate healthily and successfully, take fewer or no detours, and achieve the best economic and ecological benefits? The farm took the implementation of the fishery science and technology household project as an opportunity and the cultivation of new-type fishery farmers as a starting point, and increased technical training and guidance for farmers. At present, fishery new-type farmer science and technology training schools have been established with plaques respectively at 3 aquaculture farms, a total of 60 fishery science and technology demonstration households have been cultivated and set up, and each household has been issued an aquaculture technology manual and had an aquaculture ledger established, while 4 technical instructors provide year-round technical follow-up services. This year the farm has successively held 3 training classes on efficient special aquaculture, inviting local aquaculture experts to the farm to teach farmers aquaculture techniques for crayfish, crabs, grass carp and others, and has cumulatively trained more than 130 farmer visits, cultivating and bringing up a group of "local experts" such as Zhang Jianwei, Wang Chunbing and Zhou Zhaogen. In order to let high-quality aquatic products produce greater benefits, the farm has also vigorously implemented a brand strategy for aquatic products and applied to register the "Shenhu" aquatic product brand, which can be used on aquatic products such as crabs and shrimp. In addition, a 2,300-mu pollution-free aquatic product aquaculture base has also been established at White Horse Lake, promoting standardized aquaculture, and using the aquaculture association as a link to achieve effective connection between high-quality aquatic products and the market.