China delivered a 100,000-tonne smart aquaculture vessel on Friday in Qingdao City, east China’s Shandong Province, in a world first.
The Guoxin-1 ship is an innovative mobile fish farming strategy that is being hailed as a technological triumph for China’s deep-sea aquaculture business.
The fish farm ship is 249.9 metres long, has a deadweight of 100,000 tonnes, and a displacement of 130,000 tonnes, making it huge enough to withstand typhoons.
Each of the cabin’s 15 rooms is the size of two ordinary swimming pools.
The ship can handle 3,700 tonnes of fish every year, according to CMG, including yellow croakers, groupers, and Atlantic salmons.
According to Dong Shaoguang, Deputy General Manager of the ship’s state-owned financier, Qingdao Conson Development Group, the important technology is the nonstop water exchange between the cabin and the sea, which keeps the water environment on the ship enclosed and controllable.
The breeding density of the Guoxin-1 is three to five times higher than traditional cages, according to Dong, and the aquaculture cycle can be a quarter shorter.
The ship will harvest yellow croakers in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea, with the first batch slated to hit the market in the fall of 2022.
By March 2024, the Guoxin-2 and Guoxin-3 ships of the same model will be delivered. The Guoxin-4, an enhanced version, is set to begin development in late 2023.