October 17, 2008

The Department of Marine and Fishery of Hainan province in southern China is engaging in breeding fresh water basa from Vietnam to boost development in the sector.

Authorities in Hainan first brought the fish from Vietnam for a trail breeding session in July 2007.

Breeding of the basa was maintained by the Hainan production unit, which set aside an area of 31 mu (2.14 acres)  for the basa.

The unit managed to pull off the project successfully despite a heavy snow storm early in the year. 

After 14 months, the unit is now breeding a total of 110,200 kg of basa.

According to statistics, the heaviest weight of a basa fish is 4.2 kg and a normal basa fish weighs 1.8 kg. Based on these, the farm would be able to produce 3.6 tonnes of basa fish in an acre, a record high for the cultivation of basa.

The success of Basa breeding has meant a new addition to the seafood species already present in the province and at the same time given a boost to the local aquaculture sector.