With import ban on Japan, seafood industry seeks better alternatives in domestic sources

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in Northwest China, located far from the sea, used to transport seafood products such as salmon, Australian lobster and South American shrimp from coastal areas.

Now, localized aquaculture has been achieved with melting snow and glaciers of the Tianshan Mountains, making it easier for the local population to have seafood in Xinjiang, forming a niche for local business operators with Chinese consumers' growing appetite for aquatic products.

Freshwater aquatic products are expected to become more popular in China following concerns about seafood due to nuclear-contaminated wastewater being discharged by Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

China has suspended imports of all aquatic products from Japan since Aug 24, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Reducing dependence on seafood imports is likely to generate higher demand for freshwater aquatic products and encourage the growth of more such businesses in inland China, industry experts observed.

In Kuqa, Xinjiang, crabs cultured at a reservoir were launched in the market about half a month in advance, thanks to abundant rainfall. With water from the snowy mountains, lush aquatic plants and rich plankton and crabs introduced from the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning province, have grown well in Xinjiang.

"I have been farming crabs in Kuqa for more than 10 years and the products have been of high quality and favored by consumers. The crabs grow naturally and there isn't any human intervention," said Liu Shifang, a breeder in Kuqa.

Kuqa has also bred South American shrimp. The Xinjiang Fenghe Aquatic Products Breeding Cooperative introduced South American shrimp in April this year, which takes an average of 70 days from breeding to launching the products in the market.

"With saline-alkaline land and water, we have bred some 80,000 metric tons of shrimp so far and another 100,000 tons are about to launch in the market in October. The shrimp has been sold to nearby cities, but the supply isn't enough to meet the demand," said Jiang Shengguo, director of the cooperative.

Since June 2021, Jiang has invested more than 6 million yuan ($822,370) in testing the local environment and water, building greenhouses and ponds and trying to cultivate South American shrimp in freshwater. After two years of breeding, the breeding technology has become increasingly mature.

Business operators from nearby areas have also visited the cooperative to learn about the breeding technology. They watch videos of shrimp breeding on Chinese shortvideo platform Douyin, and hope to cooperate with breeders in Kuqa to cultivate shrimp themselves if opportunities emerge.

Currently, the cooperative in Kuqa has 45 breeding greenhouses and plans to build another 25 to bring the annual output of shrimp at the cooperative to nearly 400,000 tons.

The cooperative said it plans to continuously explore new breeding models and utilize advanced technologies. By breeding shrimp on a large scale, the cooperative aims to encourage more impoverished families to get involved in the business to help increase their incomes.

China stands as the world's largest consumption market for aquatic products. With the ongoing consumption upgrade trend and consumers' improved living standards, sales of aquatic products have surged in the country in recent years.

At the same time, in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, the first batch of farmed South American white prawns was recently launched on e-commerce platform Freshippo, Alibaba's fresh-food chain. The local feeding base has achieved a large-scale, closed aquaculture by developing a closed ecosystem similar to the ocean.