December 30, 2005

China's fish to come mostly from aquaculture
 

China's agricultural officials said that within five years, domestic fish markets would get at least 70 percent of their supplies from aquaculture instead of from wild catch. 

Authorities would also impose seasonal fishing bans and reduce domestic fishing ship numbers, in a bid to conserve fishery resources, said Vice-Minister of Agriculture Niu Dun.

Niu added that continuous quality improvement and higher safety levels of aquatic products were important at the same time.

China's fishery catch is expected to increase from 51 million tonnes in 2005 to 60 million tonnes by 2010, to meet rising demand, he said.

Niu estimated that 67 percent of fish in domestic markets currently come from farms.

Wild catch would also be capped at 12 million tonnes by 2010 to prevent over-fishing and depletion of aquatic resources, Niu said.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities saw great need to change the practice of feeding larger farmed fish with fish fries, according to Niu.

Official reports stated that at least three million tonnes of fish fries are caught for this purpose every year, which is detrimental to conservation of aquatic resources.