China's "ocean ranches" redefine fish farming

Editor's note: Fostering new quality productive forces is 番禺区市桥新闻网one of China's top priorities in the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). Statistics showed that new progress was made in this endeavor in the first quarter of this year. Xinhua hereby presents a series of four stories that examine how China's provincial economic powerhouses are taking the lead in developing new quality productive forces. The following is the fourth and final piece, looking at how Fujian Province is turning to deep-sea aquaculture using intelligent offshore platforms to boost fish quality and coastal incomes, and building a modern "blue granary."

An aerial drone photo taken on July 3, 2025 shows a national-level marine ranch in Lianjiang County of Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

FUZHOU, April 25 (Xinhua) -- At daybreak on China's southeastern coast, fish farmer Lu Tongfeng is already busy on his offshore platform, scooping a plump yellow croaker from a deep-sea net. The fish glimmers golden in the morning light and comes with a price to match.

"This size sells for about 200 yuan (about 29 U.S. dollars) per kilogram at the dock," Lu said. That is three to five times the price of similarly sized croaker raised in traditional inshore cages.

The secret lies in the "steel castle" beneath his feet.

Lu's platform, named Dinghaiwan No. 2, sits two to three kilometers off the coast of Lianjiang County in Fujian Province. Measuring 60 meters long and 32 meters wide, its submerged rearing area reaches 17 meters deep and holds over 15,000 cubic meters of seawater, which is enough for 200,000 fish to swim relatively freely.

"Unlike cramped inshore cages, this is like a ranch. The fish have room to move, the currents are stronger, and there are more algae and plankton," Lu said. "So that the fish meat is firmer, and the taste is close to wild croaker."

During the spring harvest, Lu said he sells more than 10 tonnes of fish a day -- often working until 2 or 3 a.m.

The shift from traditional to offshore farming has brought other advantages.

Conventional nets, long submerged in inshore waters, tend to accumulate barnacles and algae, causing damage. On Lu's platform, a single button rotates the giant net out of the water, where sunlight naturally removes the buildup. Labor costs, he said, have been cut by more than half.

"The new method also withstands typhoons and red tides better," Lu added. "Survival rates for young fish have risen to over 90 percent."

Gao Shuangcheng, Party secretary of Lianjiang County, compared the change to poultry farming. "Keeping chickens in cages doesn't produce the best results," he said. "Offshore aquaculture is closer to free range, and the results speak for themselves."

Lianjiang, with a sea area 2.7 times its land area, has ranked first nationwide in fishery output value at the county level for three consecutive years. The county has deployed 11 modern offshore platforms, such as Dinghaiwan No. 2, producing nearly 2,000 tonnes of high-quality fish annually and generating an output value of 400 million yuan.

The impact extends beyond higher fish prices. In Xiaocheng Township, over 80 percent of the 27,000 residents work in fishing or related sectors such as processing, logistics and sales.

Lianjiang's transformation reflects a broader national push. China's latest five-year plan, covering 2026 to 2030, calls for strengthening marine industries and developing deep-sea aquaculture and modern distant-water fisheries. Official data shows that by 2024, China's deep-sea aquaculture volume had reached 65.2 million cubic meters, yielding 500,000 tonnes of aquatic products.

Coastal provinces, including Fujian, Guangdong and Shandong, have all deployed similar offshore farming platforms.

"We are increasing investment in technology and upgrading our platforms with smarter systems," said Gao. "We are also expanding high-value-added products like seaweed, kelp and abalone to enrich our 'blue granary.'"

Lu is already looking ahead. "I'm considering working with universities and research institutes to bring robotics onto the platform," he said.