December 17, 2007

 

Pollution prompting fish farms in Fujian, China to move inland

 

 

Aquaculture farms in Fujian province, China, are moving inland in search of more pristine conditions as serious pollution in the waters near coastal regions are prompting authorities to clamp down on the activity, the New York Times reported.

 

Fujian province is one of the major provinces producing eels shrimp and tilapia for the Japan, the EU and the US.

 

Pollution from the fish farms are one of several factors choking China's rivers,  accompanied by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff contaminating water supplies and causing acute water shortages in the area, the article reported.

 

To enhance survival rates in these toxic waters, farmers used to mix illegal veterinary drugs and pesticides into fish feed, which helps keep their stocks alive. However, these seafood posed serious health threats to consumers, which in turn led to rejected imports and partial bans from the US, Japan and the EU.

 

Fuqing in Fujian province tops the list this year for refused shipments of seafood from China, with 43 rejections through November, according to the US FDA, all related to illegal drug use. The city accounted for a-fifth of the 210 refusals from China.

 

In contrast, Thailand, also a major exporter of seafood to the US, only had two refusals related to illegal veterinary drugs.

 

China is the world's top aquaculture producer and is a major supplier to the US, where 80 percent of all seafood consumed comes from imports.

 

The paper reported Chinese farmers saying that they have stopped using the banned medicines, but have suffered a 30-percent decline in survival rates of their fish and other seafood as a result.

 

Currently, more than half of the rivers in China are too polluted to serve as a source of drinking water. The biggest lakes in the country regularly succumb to harmful algal blooms, the paper said.

 

Enormous aquaculture farms concentrate fish waste, pesticides and veterinary drugs in their ponds and discharge the contaminated water into the enviroment, often with no treatment, the paper alleged.

 

The low start-up costs and the simple technology deployed drew thousands of farmers previously farming on land take to the waters to reap much larger profits.

 

The government acquiesced in the building boom in hopes that this would lift millions out of poverty. There are now more than 4.5 million fish farmers in China, according to the Fishery Bureau.

 

In Fuqing, serious environmental problems and water shortages began to emerge after industrial plants moved in.

 

The pollution that ensued has rendered nearby reservoirs unfit for fish farming, swimming or even contact with the human body. Large sections of the Long River, the major waterway in Fuqing, has earned a government rating below level 5, unfit for any use.

 

The pollution has caused an influx of aquaculture farmers further inland to areas like Sanming, a mountainous region 175 miles from the coast. Although farmers face higher costs in terms of transport to factories, they would not have to deal with water problems, at least not yet.

 

However, scientists are concerned that farms would repeat the cycle over again, repeating what they had done to the coastal waters to waters in the mountains.

 

While polluted rivers like Lake Tai, and the Long River in Fuqing are pushing out aquaculture farms, authorities in Sanming are welcoming them with open arms, eyeing the revenues and deveoplement they would be bringing.

 

Sanming already has 72 giant eel farms. Those farms together use about 280 million gallons of water a day and then discharge the wastewater the following day, back into the environment.