The Chinese company Jiangsu Dajin Heavy Industry Co. completed and delivered the world’s first aquaculture-ship, which features Dynamic Position (DP) technology, and will be used in the open sea.
This unusual ship design will be deployed off the coast of Naozhou Island, in Zhanjiang, where it will initially be used for breeding yellow croakers.
The new Zhanjiang Bay 1 is a “mobile sea ranch”, according to Chinese state media. It is designed for breeding multiple fish species in a single aquaculture vessel and features 12 separate production bays. The target production is estimated at 2,000-5,000 tons of fish, with “low” energy consumption levels during operations.
The goal of building the aquaculture-ship is to expand aquaculture into deeper waters in the open sea, according to the company managing the original construction. With fully electric propulsion and a DP system, as well as integrated feed distribution devices, the ship will be able to stay far from the coast – and will be able to move to more protected waters in case of bad weather. The aquaculture-ship is part of an effort to develop a multi-billion dollar “blue pasture” industry, a new way to increase China’s domestic fish production without further reducing domestic fishing.
The location for the first aquaculture-ship
The Zhanjiang Bay 1 will be deployed far from disputed waters, however China’s giant aquaculture facilities have caused tensions in some areas. In the Yellow Sea, two Chinese net-cage structures have been installed in the South Korea-China Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) – an area with undefined boundaries between the two countries. Earlier this year, South Korea’s National Assembly declared the net-cage structures a “threat to maritime security” and demanded their removal, after an independent assessment found that the structures could have dual-use applications for military surveillance.
The shipbuilding company Jiangsu Dajin, which delivered the Zhanjiang Bay 1 aquaculture-ship, is a relatively new shipyard on the Yangtze specializing in support vessels. It has so far built and delivered heavy-lift crane vessels, deep-water subsea support vessels, and barges. It also has the capability to build handysize cargo ships and 5,000 dwt multi-purpose vessels used in coastal trade.
Fishing in China, as we all know who have traveled there, feeds millions of people. The Chinese authorities place more importance on a fishing vessel than on a large merchant ship. The fishermen are so many millions that they receive special treatment from the coast guard.
