October 22, 2010

Chinese seafood processors prepare for Typhoon Megi

Fish farmers, fishermen and seafood processors in southern China are bracing for Typhoon Megi, as the storm and its 175-kph (110-mph) winds barrelled toward southern Guangdong province on Thursday (Oct 21).

On Wednesday, Megi hammered the Philippines, destroying nearly 5,000 homes with 225-kph (140-mph) winds. Though it weakened on Thursday, the storm is expected to regain momentum when it makes landfall more than 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Hong Kong by Saturday.

Megi is expected to bring heavy rains and winds to China's Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi and Fujian provinces, a hotbed for fish farming, fishing and seafood processing. At press time on Thursday (Oct 21), the storm moved slowly across the South China Sea about 430 kilometres (267 miles) east-southeast of Hong Kong.

In Hainan, an island province southwest of Hong Kong, 26,000 fishing vessels returned to harbour, according to reports.

Norbert Sporns, CEO of Seattle-based HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries, a vertically-integrated tilapia producer in Hainan, said that Megi would not directly impact Hainan, though heavy rains may accentuate flooding.

"The damage we have suffered [so far] is limited to our fry-breeding facility and to our cooperative farms, [which] we do not own," said Sporns, adding that total damage in dollar terms is not high since fry-breeding facility account for less than 2% of our revenues.

He noted that the storm is hitting at a bad time, as China's tilapia industry is still trying to return to "normal" after the brutal winter of 2007-08, when snow and ice storms and lower-than-usual temperatures in southern China hampered production.

Hainan now produces 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes (live weight) of tilapia annually, according to Sporns.