In China's coastal areas, there has been a saying that "the best Chinese ocean 
ranches are in Shandong, while the best Shandong ocean ranches are in Yantai". 
Yantai City, located on the coast of Bohai Sea in Shandong Province, is 
vigorously accelerating its building of ocean ranches, and continuously 
promoting the transformation and upgrading of ocean ranching. According to the 
International Ocean Information Center, up to now, Yantai has 30 ocean ranches 
at or above provincial level, of which 14 are at the national level, accounting 
for one eighth of the total number in China; with its ocean ranches covering a 
total area of over 700 km2, the city boasts an industrial chain of ocean 
ranching with an annual output value of over CNY 50 billion. 

Yantai has a sea area of 26,000 km2, nearly one tenth of which is suitable for 
the construction of high-quality ocean ranches. In the 1970s and 1980s, Yantai, 
as one of the first pilot areas in China, carried out experiments on artificial 
reefs and conducted activities of stock enhancement and releasing of Chinese 
prawns, becoming one of the cities in China that launched the construction of 
ocean ranches and the city with the largest number of national-level ocean 
ranches. 

In recent years, Yantai has enhanced its level of technological innovation and 
integrated application of ocean ranching, organized nearly 100 enterprises and 
scientific research institutions to establish the Yantai Strategic Alliance for 
Technological Innovation of Ocean Ranching Industry, and set up an investment 
fund totaling CNY 1 billion for the development of marine industry to help 
extend the industrial chain of ocean ranching. The fund is mainly used in ocean 
ranching, marine engineering equipment, marine science and technology, seafood 
farming, fresh product processing, etc. At the same time, they have been 
integrating ranch data resources, improving the online monitoring of ocean 
ecological environment, ocean ranch observation and the monitoring network of 
marine economic operation, and building a big data platform for comprehensive 
ocean management, so to achieve the "visual, measurable, controllable and 
early-warning" management of ocean ranches. 

In May last year, the "Changjing No.1" deep ocean intelligent net cage was put 
into operation in Changdao, Yantai. "Changjing No.1" is the first domestic 
deep-water sit-on-bottom intelligent net cage, which is researched and 
developed by Yantai CIMC Raffles. It is 66m long, 66m wide, with an upper ring 
height of 34m and an effective breeding water body of 64,000 m3, equivalent to 
100 ordinary net cages. The net cage is equipped with automatic equipment for 
baiting, underwater monitoring and net cleaning, as well as a sewage treatment 
system, a desalination system and a solar power generation system. It is the 
world's first deep-water sit-on-bottom aquaculture net cage and the first large 
cage to achieve automatic net-lifting function. 

In July of this year, "Genghai No.1", China's first large-scale complex 
platform of intelligent ocean ranching, was put into operation in Yantai. It 
has a total diameter of 80m and a total breeding volume of 30,897 m3, 
equivalent to the water volume of 14 swimming pools of international standard, 
and is composed of three identical and rotating sub-cages, like three petals 
blooming at sea. "Genghai No. 1" has made multiple innovations in terms of the 
movable sit-on-bottom structure, the new material netting, the intelligent 
equipment, etc., and is expected to produce 150,000 kg of fishes and receive 
50,000 tourists annually. 

Relying on its ocean ranching platforms, Yantai has begun to explore the 
building of a new model of recreational fishery development that combines 
"ocean ranching + marine engineering equipment + tourism" and "leisure sea 
fishing + yachting", to promote the deep integration of fishery with tourism 
and sports industry. Last year, Yantai achieved an output value of CNY 5.1 
billion in its recreational fishery industry, with a year-on-year increase of 
13.5%. 

Zhang Shuping, Secretary of Yantai Municipal Party Committee, said that the 
city would continue to leverage its building of ocean ranches as the main 
driver for the transformation and upgrading of marine fishery, and adhere to 
the development path of scalable, engineering, intelligent and green ocean 
ranches, in accordance with the principle of "ecology first, land and sea 
integration, and sustainable use". 

Source: International Ocean Information Center

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=369252

   Caption: "Changjing No.1" is sitting firmly in the sea area of Daqin Island, 
Yantai

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=369256

   Caption: "Genghai No.1" complex of ocean ranching