Seafood: It was the first time I realized that my hometown was Xinjiang丨Great country technology style

Welcome National Day

The "artificial sun" broke the record again, the domestically-made large passenger aircraft C919 achieved commercial operation, Xinjiang's saline-alkali land had a bumper harvest of seafood, the medical heavy ion accelerator was put into clinical application, the first domestically-made large cruise ship "Aida Magic City" successfully completed its sea trial, and the world's deepest underground laboratory was waiting for a "visit" from dark matter... In 2023, my country's science and technology continued to make new breakthroughs, bringing new possibilities and opportunities to human life and development.

On the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Digital Beijing Science Center has brought you a special column "Great Power Science and Technology Style", allowing us to review the scientific and technological achievements made this year under the leadership of the Party.

Review expert: Hu Jianyong, researcher at Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Fisheries Science Research Institute

Recently, Xinjiang's farmed aquatic products have had a bumper harvest. At the same time, the topics #新疆海鲜无圈火圈# and #近近漠產育產育# have also successfully become hot searches, surprising many people.

It is hard to imagine that Xinjiang, which is located deep inland and known for its aridity, can farm so many aquatic products, such as tilapia, white shrimp, hairy crab, Australian crayfish... Why can such a variety of delicious fish, shrimp and crabs be raised here?

Source: Weibo screenshot

As we all know, Xinjiang, located in the inland area, has no seawater, but it is rich in fishery resources. How did aquatic products take root in Xinjiang and even have a bumper harvest? This question needs to be analyzed from two aspects. The first is the living environment of farmed fish, and the second is the high-quality germplasm resources.

First, let’s look at Xinjiang, a place for aquaculture. Although it is located in the inland northwest and has an arid climate, Xinjiang also has vast natural waters. Although part of the waters are saline lakes that are not suitable for food, they have become an excellent place for aquaculture.

How to change water quality?

The biggest problem in cultivating marine aquatic products in saline-alkali land is the source of seawater. From the perspective of geological changes, Xinjiang was once part of the ancient Mediterranean Sea, so the water quality of some saline-alkali lakes here is close to that of seawater. In addition, since the local water source mainly comes from glacier snowmelt, the temperature is relatively low, which also provides a suitable temperature environment for heat-sensitive seafood.

The source of river crabs farmed in Altay, Xinjiang丨Screenshot of news video/see watermark

In addition, if marine aquatic products are to be cultivated locally, the water quality needs to be adjusted accordingly. Aquaculture experts need to first measure the salinity, ion composition and pH value of the local water quality, and then make adjustments based on the standards of seawater. The main method is to add substances to prepare artificial seawater.

Grouper farmed at the Hongqi Farm Breeding Base of the Third Division of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Source: News Photo/See watermark

After adjusting the "hard standards" such as salinity and pH value, the staff will also add trace elements and probiotics to the water to simulate a suitable artificial seawater environment so that the local water quality reaches the standards for raising marine aquatic products.

According to a staff member of a Xinjiang aquatic company, through continuous adjustment and exploration of water quality, the water quality in the farm has been made very close to seawater quality, which is suitable for biological growth. At Xinjiang Hongqi Farm, eight types of marine aquatic products such as abalone, lobster, grouper, as well as freshwater and wide-salinity aquatic products such as river crabs, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, rainbow trout, tilapia, and blue crabs have been successfully cultivated. This can be said to be a great breakthrough and success.

What kind of aquatic products can be farmed in Xinjiang?

With the right water quality, you also need the right species. If you want to get a good harvest from inland aquaculture of marine aquatic products, it is very important to choose fish with strong adaptability.

Among the aquatic products with a large production volume, tilapia, blue crab and whiteleg shrimp are species that can adapt to a wide range of salinity. Among them, tilapia can adapt to a wide range of salinity and has relatively low requirements for water quality; blue crab and whiteleg shrimp can be farmed in a certain degree of desalination; whiteleg shrimp can adapt to a wide range of salinity, and on the other hand, during the breeding process, the seedlings can gradually adapt to lower salinity through the desalination process, thereby reducing the breeding cost.

Source of whiteleg shrimp from Xinjiang丨News photo/see watermark

In addition, although Xinjiang "seafood" is often mentioned in the news, in fact, if you analyze it carefully, you can find that a considerable part of the Xinjiang aquatic products currently on the market are actually freshwater species, such as rainbow trout, hairy crabs, Australian freshwater lobsters , etc. It's just that when people purchase aquatic products, they often use "seafood" to refer to them, and thus classify these freshwater aquatic products as "seafood".

Take rainbow trout as an example. Nileke County at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang has been engaged in freshwater rainbow trout farming. Although it is different from the salmon often mentioned in daily life, that is, Atlantic salmon, its quality is also quite superior, and it is expected that the output this year can reach 6,000 tons, which is an amazing output.

Freshwater rainbow trout farmed in Xinjiang Source: News Photo

As for other marine aquatic products that are relatively picky about salinity and water quality, the water quality regulation technology mentioned above can be used to prepare artificial seawater that meets the aquaculture standards and aquaculture. Aquatic product aquaculture has been successfully carried out in saline-alkali areas not only in Xinjiang, but also in Yunnan, Hebei, Henan and other provinces.

These successful cases show that saline-alkali land aquaculture can achieve good results through scientific breeding management and technological innovation. By selecting aquatic species that adapt to saline-alkali environments, regulating water quality, rational feeding and disease prevention and control, the output and quality of saline-alkali land aquaculture can be improved, farmers' income can be increased, land utilization efficiency can be improved, and sustainable agricultural development can be achieved.

Can we only eat inland seafood in the future?

As the Japanese government dumped contaminated water into the ocean, the public's attention has also been randomly focused on inland farmed seafood. Now the technology of inland farmed aquatic products is relatively mature, so in the future, can we put aside seafood and only eat inland farmed seafood?

Source of Australian freshwater crayfish丨News photo

Overall, inland saline-alkali land aquaculture has a certain market and feasibility, and the future is very promising. However, this technology is still in its infancy, and it does not mean that it can completely replace the seafood source in the sea. One important point is that the current production and aquaculture types are limited, and it is impossible to fully and completely replace them. There is still room for improvement in technology.

Of course, through the promotion of technological innovation, cultivation of adaptive varieties, comprehensive utilization, environmental protection and market demand, saline-alkali land aquaculture will become an important part of sustainable agricultural development, and make positive contributions to increasing farmers' income and improving the ecological environment. We have reason to believe that in the near future, with the continuous efforts of scientific researchers, inland aquaculture will continue to make progress and breakthroughs on the original basis!