Annex IV
STATUS OF SANITATION AND MARKETING OF MOLLUSC IN CHINA

Qiao Qing-Ling

East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute

Li Jun

Division of Marketing and Supply
Department of Aquatic Products
Ministry of Agriculture

I. INTRODUCTION

The water resources of China include the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East and South China Seas as well as the Pacific Ocean in the eastern coast of Taiwan. There are more than 5,000 islands in China with a total coastline of over 18,000 km. Altogether, the coastline of the mainland and islands totals 32,000 km providing a cultivable area of shallow water and mudflat of around 1.3 million hectares. Besides, China has a vast area of inland water about 20 million hectares. The water area that can be cultivated is more than 5 million hectares. Various species of fish, shrimp, shellfish and algae are in cultivation.

China has favourable conditions for the development of fishery production in light of natural surroundings, a long history of fish culture, plenty of manual labour and a huge consumer market. But the development of fishery production had lagged behind due to the erroneous policy in guidance during the past years. In recent years, however, under the guidance of the general policy of reform, opening up to the world and enlivening the domestic economy, the Chinese government has been paying much attention to the proper utilization of resources, development of aquaculture and improvement of product quality. An organization for fishery management has been set up and the government has adopted the supportive measure of providing loan to fishermen. At the same time, the system of production responsibilities has been carried out and the new scientific achievements and technology for fishery production has been extensively applied, which all contributed to greater progress in fishery production. By 1988, the total aquaculture output had reached 10.61 million MT. The total area and production for mariculture and freshwater culture was 4,308,226 ha (in which mariculture occupied 413,326 ha) and 5.32 million MT, to which mariculture contributed 1.42 m MT. This paper will briefly introduce the status of sanitation and marketing of mollusc (mariculture) in China.

II. CULTURED MOLLUSCS

In the recent years, much progress has been made in mariculture science and technology, such as artificial seedling growth of many marine species, improvement of culture methods, and expansion of cultured species. The cultured species of mollusc has expanded from the traditional mudflat shellfish like oyster, Sinovacula constricta, hard clam, are spotted clam, to over 30 species including mussel (Mytilus edulis, Mytilus crassitesta, Mytilus edulis), scallop (Chlamys farreri), oyster (Crassostrea rivularis, Ostrea denselamellosa, Crassostrea gigas, Saccostrea cucullata), razor clam (Sinonovacula constricta), hard clam (Meretrix meretrix, Venerupis varieqata), and cockle (Anadara granosa, Anadara inflata, Anadara subcrenata). In addition, river snails are cultured in rice fields.

III. AREA UNDER CULTURE

Since 1978, the government has actively supported marine culture and the cultivable area has been expanded. Mariculture rapidly grew in the last ten years, reaching 0.4133 million hectares in 1988 compared to the 0.1006 million hectares in 1978. The shellfish culture area increased from 0.07 million hectares to 0.1929 million hectares. Table 1 shows the 1978–1988 statistical information on cultured area of mussel, scallop, razor clam, hard clam, oyster, and arkshell.

IV. PRODUCTION BY SPECIES

With the cultivated area continuously expanding, the yield of mollusc has also rapidly increased during the last ten years. By 1988, the yield of shellfish had reached 0.94 million MT, nearly five times that of 1978. Table 2 shows the 1978–88 production by species of mollusc in China.

V. PROCESSING OF MOLLUSCS

Although China has a very long history of aquaculture product processing, the processing methods and equipment are still simple and out dated. The traditional method is sun-drying. China has have turned to large scale production of processed products, the main ones being dried mussel meat, dried clam meat, dried squid, dried cuttlefish, dried adductor muscle, and oyster sauce, etc. In the last ten years, with the development of mollusc farming, the types of processed products have increased. In addition to the dried products, canned, frozen, salted, cooked and others have been developed. However, the bulk of processed molluscs is still in dried form. In 1987, the total output of shellfish was 0.71 million MT, that of processed dried products was 27,871 MT. In other words, 19.60 percent of raw shellfish material was processed into dried products. The rest was marketed live. Table 2 shows the yield of mussel which has the highest production among mollusc. In addition to the consumer market, most of mussel are supplied as feed for mariculture.

Table 1. Coastal area under mussel, scallop, razor clam, hard clam, arkshell, and oyster culture in China from 1978–1988 (ha).

(*) Includes also from natural fishing grounds.

Table 2. Mollusc yields by species in China from 1978–1988 (MT).

VI. MOLLUSC SANITATION

The Chinese Government has placed emphasis on mollusc sanitation. Rules and regulations regarding the sanitation of mollusc have been set up. Standards for aquatic products have also been formulated by the government and by local enterprises. The main rules and regulations include the following:

1. Catching and marketing of shellfish are prohibited from the place where infectious intestinal diseases occur and the water is heavily polluted;

2. Marketing and processing of dead shellfish are not permitted;

3. Shellfish should be transported while alive and its package must be in small size and well-ventilated, keeping the product wet and under low temperature.

4. Indices of organoleptic, physical, chemical and microbial should be met.

In order to ensure sanitation and safety of fishery products, an organization of state-province-county supervising station has been established to inspect the hygienic quality of aqua-products.

In recent decade, mollusc farming developed rapidly that the management of sanitation can not catch up with it. With the rapid development of industries, the fishery environment faces the pollution menace.

In the spring of 1988, an infectious disease, viral hepatitis A, was prevalent in Shanghai. Some 300 000 people were afflicted. Investigations made by the sanitation and fishery environmental protection department showed that the patients consumed arkshell (Anadara subcrenata Lischke) cultured in the Qidong area in Jiangsu province. The culture site was polluted. After the event, the relevant authorities tried to close the site and started further investigation.

VII. MARKETING OF MOLLUSCS

In the 1950s, due to the low level of mollusc production, molluscs were mostly gathered from the natural grounds and consumed in the locality. Part of these were processed mainly in the form of dried products. Distribution was carried out through state-run commerce.

Since 1978, with the new economic policies, the Government began to place great attention to promoting the production and improving the distribution of aquaculture products. The channels of distribution expanded; aside from the state-run enterprises, individual sellers and producer-sellers began to participate in the distribution. There has also been some development in processed products; small packaged frozen mollusc meats are welcome by consumers.

With the development of techniques to prolong the life and freshness of the product, improvement in equipment and transport techniques, consumers are now enjoying more the delicacy and nourishment of mollusc products. The area of distribution has also expanded. The Ministry of Agriculture statistics of 1987 showed that of the total mollusc produced in the mainland in recent years, 10% was shipped to Beijing, 35% was sold to the capitals of the coastal provinces, 20% to the rural towns, 15% in the vicinity of production areas, and 20% in the vicinity of landing sites. Most of the products was bought by households and restaurants. But the price of mollusc has also increased. For instance, the price of the arkshell, Anadara subcrenata has gone up by three to four times.

In the market, the different channels for selling mollusc tend to get different benefits -- the individual commerce about 20–30%, the producer-seller about 30% but the state-run commerce only about 10%.

Besides the domestic markets, the export of mollusc products has also increased. Frozen mollusc meat as well as live mollusc have emerged as two of the 11 main fishery export products in China. They are mainly exported to Japan, Hong Kong, USA, etc. Such species earn more foreign exchange (Table 3).

Table 3. Shellfish exports from China in 1986 and imports in 1987.

The production of mollusc in China has clearly developed in the last decade. But it is facing much difficulty which includes lack of funds and the need for advanced technology and modern equipment. The problems associated with the management of hygiene, protection of environment and improvement of processing and distribution of mollusc also need to be solved. However, China possesses a huge potential in expanding the area and raising the yield and total production of mollusc.

If the other constraints can be resolved as well i.e., hygiene, environmental sanitation, processing, quality control and better distribution, greater development of the mollusc industry can be expected.