Xinjiang

Aquatic products from Northwest China's Xinjiang are gaining in popularity and the local fishery industry is on a fast development track thanks to successful ecological management in recent years. Consumers have also been worried about seafood safety following Japan's plan to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. 

On Monday, in Altay, Xinjiang, workers were fishing for this year's first batch of crabs, which will be packed and shipped to East China's Jiangsu Province. Amid concerns over seafood following Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated water, seafood in landlocked Xinjiang has gained in popularity in the Chinese market. 

With the success of China's ecological management in recent years, Xinjiang's seawater aquafarming is on a fast track of development. According to a report from China News, in Bosten Lake alone, a bumper harvest of more than 4,000 tons of crabs is expected this year.

This tasty seafood will be available about 10 days earlier than crabs from Jiangsu province - a traditionally big crab-producing province - creating a good effect for staggered sales.

In addition to crabs, Xinjiang's South American white shrimp, salmon and other aquatic products have also seen a bumper harvest. In Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, it takes less than 24 hours for local salmon to be processed, packaged and transported to consumers' tables from the time it was brought out of the water.

This popularity gives Xinjiang's seawater aquafarming a good chance to grow, and as more people become aware of Xinjiang's fishery products, the region can attract more investment to expand production and meet consumers' growing demand, Fan Xubing, an aquatic industry insider and analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Japan started dumping nuclear-contaminated water on August 24, and on the same day, the Chinese government suspended imports of Japanese seafood. The fast-developing Xinjiang seafood has filled the gap left by the exit of Japanese seafood from the Chinese market.

The Chinese government's ecological management and restoration of water bodies have provided prerequisites for the development of the fishery industry in Xinjiang, where fish production increased from approximately 101,063 tons to 163,022 from 2010 to 2020, according to data from the Statistics Bureau of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Global Times