China's deep-sea aquaculture of golden pomfret is expected to produce over 1 million tons in the future

Recently, Zhang Dianchang, Deputy Director of the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, who participated in the Expo, said in an interview that China is currently in the stage of "running parallel" to "leading" in the research of aquatic fish resources and genetic breeding. China has abundant aquatic germplasm resources and a wide variety of aquaculture species. The first survey of aquatic germplasm resources confirmed that there are as many as 857 aquatic germplasm resources in China, providing diversified variety choices for the people.

Trachinotus ovatus,  known as the golden pomfret, has the characteristics of being able to resist strong ocean currents, fully utilize large aquaculture spaces, feed on artificial compound feed throughout the process, and undergo freezing preservation and processing. It is one of the main species of cage aquaculture in southern China. In recent years, with the construction of the "One Fish" project for the golden pomfret, its industrial chain has been further optimized. Data shows that in 2022, the national production of golden pomfret reached 245,400 tons, of which Guangdong Province produced 119,300 tons, accounting for 48.61% of the national total.

Zhang Dianchang said that the golden pomfret cultured in deep and distant waters in China may become a single species of marine fish with a production of over 1 million tons in the future. However, there are still problems such as high feed coefficient (the amount of feed consumed by adding one unit weight to the cultured object), which need to be improved in terms of selection and feed formula optimization. In addition, how to process golden pomfret products and develop more diversified processing products to meet consumer demand is also a problem that needs to be solved in the future. Only by solving the problems of high-quality seeds, breeding, and processing, and further opening up the consumer market, can the entire industry chain have relatively reasonable profits and guide the healthy development of the industry.