Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a landlocked region far away from ocean, is leveraging its unique natural resources and innovative technologies to promote aquaculture in arid deserts.
Long hours of sunlight, sprawling deserts, rugged mountains and an extremely dry climate make Xinjiang an unsuitable location for seafood production.
However, the region is also home to numerous rivers, lakes, reservoirs and ponds, where the aquatic products industry can thrive.
It has more than 3.07 million hectares of water areas suitable for fish farming. In particular, the meltwater of ice and snow on its its mountains, which features excellent water quality and rich in dissolved oxygen, provides a suitable environment for salmon farming.
In Nilka County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, a reservoir gathers meltwater from glaciers in the Tianshan Mountains, enabling the average water temperature to remain at some 12 Celsius degrees all year round. Another boon to salmon farming activities is that its water is clear and flows slowly.
In a farm, salmons are raised in floating cages of different sizes, and are fed by automatic machines.
In about three years, a salmon will grow from an egg to an adult fish, which is ready to be harvested.
Freshly-harvested salmons will be transferred to a cooling device that can freeze the fish at below five Celsius degrees, after which they will be loaded into an ice-filled box and transported to a factory nearby for processing and packaging.
With automated equipment, a fresh salmon can be processed, packaged and delivered to consumers' dining table within 24 hours.
This year, the annual output of local salmons is expected to reach about 7,000 tons.
In addition to raising salmons in low-temperature waters, Xinjiang is also setting up saline-alkali aquaculture farms.
In Tumxuk City, farmers have built fish ponds in saline-alkali land.
In winter, they raise saltwater fish fries in greenhouse, enabling them to adapt to the local saline-alkali water environment. When the temperature becomes suitable, the aquatic animals will then be cultured in outdoor ponds, where trace elements and probiotics are added to saline-alkali water to prepare "artificial seawater" suitable for the creatures' growth.
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Landlocked Xinjiang leverages unique advantages to farm fish in desert
![Landlocked Xinjiang leverages unique advantages to farm fish in desert](https://image.bastillepost.com/1138x/wp-content/uploads/global/2024/07/8385437_1720771560002_a.jpg.webp)
Landlocked Xinjiang leverages unique advantages to farm fish in desert