The national rural aquaculture projects were formulated and implemented by the Bureau of Fisheries in accordance with demand and needs. The State financial and material supports were extended to fisheries departments of local governments concerned, mainly by way of mobilizing fishfarmers in project locations (in the past, these locations were referred to people's communes, brigades and teams) to achieve project objectives with their own efforts. These projects played an active part in promoting aquaculture in rural areas with significant successes. The major projects implemented are outlined as follows:
i) Fish culture in the outskirts of cities: at the beginning of 1970s, the supply of aquatic products was getting more and more tight. And there were many water surfaces and waste land which could be exploited for fish farming in the suburbs of many cities. In order to ensure the supply of aquatic products for city residents, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry held meetings formulating fish culture projects on the outskirts of cities, and popularized the experience of Hengyang city which dug fish ponds of 666 ha in hilly districts in the outskirts, with a yearly production of 2 000 mt for city nearby. After the meeting, many large and medium-sized cities went into action one after another by making concrete plans. Nanjing mobilized a total of 1.07 million people to remodel desolate beaches into fishponds of 253.3 ha. Nanchang built 300 ha fish ponds too, and in the following year 140 mt fresh fish appeared on the market for the National Day. In 1971-1973, 25 communes and 95 brigades in Wuhan transformed low-lying land and lake beaches into fish ponds of 804.8 ha with 2 million labourers. By 1974, project cities had built 14 666 ha of high and stable yielding fish ponds. The majority of them benefited a lot the same year from the ponds, with increased fish and income for the communes and brigades. By 1977, fish pond culture area in 35 large and middle-sized cities reached 230 000 ha, representing 7% of the total freshwater culture area in the country, and fish production went up to 125 000 mt, making up 12% of the total freshwater fish production of the country, with the average per unit production of 2 490 kg/ha, 2.6 times higher than the state average, which greatly increased fish supplies of the concerned cities. From 1980 on, Ministry of Finance used the Agricultural Supporting Funds to set up projects to help develop fish culture in the outskirts of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. Up to 1987, in 46 large and medium-sized cities including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, fish culture area reached 681 000 ha with a fish production of 783 000 mt, representing 17.7% and 19.2% of the State’s total respectively. This production made substantial contribution to meeting fish supply for the major cities. The foreign aid projects starting from 1980 also included some projects of promoting fish culture in city outskirts. These projects were completed with great success (see Foreign Aid Projects).ii) Construction of commercial fish production bases: Freshwater fish production is highly dispersed. Even when the state executed the centralized purchase policy, the proportion of actual volume purchased seldom reached 20%. Since 1977, the State started implementing projects for commercial fish production. In the regions where conditions were favourable for fish culture, the State helped collective units in communes and brigades to build new fish ponds or rehabilitated old ponds, with the State subsidy of 3 000 yuan/ha. Most of the products were purchased by the State. For instance, in 1978 Hunan Province dug 2 333 ha fish ponds with a production of 1 196 mt, of which 673 mt were purchased by the State. Jiangsu Province constructed fish ponds of 1 266.6 ha with a production of 750 mt, of which 550 mt were purchased by the State. By 1987, 101 000 ha of standardized fish ponds were built with a production of 267 000 mt in Jiangsu Province alone. And 166 000 rural labourers were recruited into production. During the same period (1978-1987) other provinces also established their own commercial fish production base projects one after another. However, in 1987 there were 19 141 freshwater commercial fish production bases throughout the country, of which 208 266 ha were newly-built ponds and 32 466 ha were remodelled ponds, with a yearly fish production of 613 000 mt, representing 17.3% of the total fish culture pond area and 23.4% of the freshwater culture production of the country.
iii) Paddy field fish culture: At the beginning of 1950s paddy field fish culture was already a reality, doing no harm to rice but with a good harvest of fish. In 1970s the ecological theory of fish and rice combination was further elucidated. In 1986, the area for paddy field fish culture reached 692 000 ha with a production of 98 000 mt, or 141 kg per ha. In many projects, high yielding models such as “thousand ji of rice with hundred ji of fish” production in 1 mu (2 ji = 1 kg; 1 mu = 1/15 ha) became the goal. Fish produced from paddy fields were no longer consumed by farmer themselves but could be sold as a commodity. Cultured species included crucian carp, grass carp, silver carp, tilapia and Chinese bream, crab, shirmp, etc. In average, rice production also increased by 5%-10%.
iv) Kelp culture: in 1957, kelp was transplanted southward from latitude 40°N to 30°30'N with success. One year later, there was a breakthrough in artificial propagation of kelp seeds. A project on kelp culture was implemented with tremendous success and this was regarded as a starting point in rapid development of kelp mariculture. In 1958, kelp yield was only 6 000 mt, but in 1980 culture area reached 16 466 ha with an output of 253 000 mt, a rise of 40 times over 1958, which could meet the needs of both home market and export. Kelp culture became a high profit business in 1978 with average profit margin in major production districts stood at 56%-59%. In 1977, the area for kelp culture in Shandong Province was 8 200 ha with a production of 125 000 mt, valued at 110 million yuan, with a net income of 50 million yuan. The labourers engaged in kelp culture in the province were 28 000, per-capita net income being 1 800 yuan. Kelp culture development helped in the improvement of fisheries production structure, thus changing a single-sided capture fisheries in coastal area into a diversified fisheries with culture and capture developing concurrently.
v) Mussel culture: The beginning of 1970s was the starting point of successful raft culture of mussel in the north. In 1974, the mussel culture area stood at 526.6 ha with a production of 15 141 mt; and by 1977, the area was expanded to 2 726.6 ha with the production reaching 102 000 mt. Along with the rise of prawn culture, mussels were used as feed for prawn, and therefore mussels were needed in large quantities. By 1987, the culture area rose to 3 420 ha with a total production of 312 700 mt.
vi) Prawn culture: In July of 1979, the State convened the first national prawn culture meeting, which decided the guiding principles and policies for prawn culture, as well as the arrangements for the use of Agriculture Supporting Funds. This meeting laid a solid foundation for prawn culture. In 1981, the prawn culture area was already over 13 300 ha with production reaching 3 682 mt. In the beginning of 1980s, artificial propagation of prawn and culture technologies were improved. Especially in 1982, industrial large-scale artificial propagation of prawn was achieved and the seed supply problem was finally solved. And a series of practical prawn culture technologies were in operation, thus raising per unit output. Prawn was mainly for export creating considerable economic benefits. So prawn culture projects were pursued in different parts of the country. And there was a great upsurge in prawn culture along the coast. The prawn culture area and production increased by a big margin year after year. In 1984, the culture area rose to 33 400 ha with a production of 19 371 mt. In 1991, the total culture area increased to 147 150 ha with the highest production reaching 219 571 mt. During that period, about 80 000 mt prawn were exported every year, creating foreign exchange of nearly USD 500 million. In the period from 1979 to 1983, the State invested a total of 550 million yuan on artificial propagation of prawn seeds, cold storage and processing as well as construction of complete sets of production facilities. From 1980 to 1984, the State also arranged more than 50 million yuan subsidies to support communes and brigades to culture prawn. The development of prawn culture stimulated the development of feed processing, seed production, cold storage, transportation and other services, and particularly played an extremely important role in regulating coastal area development. This also generated employment to large numbers of labourers, and various skilled workers and thus raised the standard of living in many coastal rural areas. Efforts are now being made to strive hard to make prawn production restore to its original level.
vii) Raft scallop culture: In 1982, the area for scallop culture was only 186.6 ha with a production of 1 162 mt. Scallop culture developed at a high speed after the successful introduction of Atlantic bay scallop. The culture methods developed from mudflat planting into rack culture, long-line culture and raft culture, which resulted in a great increase of production. By 1991, the culture area went up to 4 866 ha with a production of 189 000 mt, a growth of 25 and 161 times respectively. Changdao County in Shandong Province became a major production area in the country. In 1986, the area for scallop culture in this county already reached 466.6 ha, representing 57.4% of the total in the country, and the production amounted to 16 000 mt, making up 67.5% of the country's total. There were 67 households whose average annual income from scallop culture was 10 000 yuan. Some speciality households earned more than 100 000 yuan per year.
viii) Seed propagation facilities: In order to support the implementation of the above projects, the State started projects for construction of hatcheries. In 1987, more than 600 prawn hatcheries and over 50 hatcheries for high value species were built. In 1997, the yearly seed propagation capacities of the country were: kelp seedling 6 billion, for 133 000 ha of culture; laver spats 60 million shells, for 6 600 ha culture; prawn seed propagation area of 700 000 m3, in which 100 billion prawn seeds could be propagated; scallop, abalone and sea cucumber seed propagation area of 70 000 m3, which could produce more than 10 billion scallop seeds, 5 million abalone seeds and sea cucumber seeds of 10 million. Besides, a number of marine fish and clam hatcheries were built.
ix) Foreign aid projects: Since 1983, some international donor agencies have begun to assist China to develop fisheries in various fields such as aquaculture development, fisheries resources management, fisheries education and training, etc. The major international organizations include the World Bank, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Funds for Agriculture Development etc. Up to the end of 1992, China had accepted funds aggregating USD 900 million including about USD 200 million as contributions and USD 700 million as credits. More than 20 projects have been implemented. At the same time, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Canadian International Development Research Center, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency supported through their technical Assistance Programmes. It is believed that external assistance has played a significant role in increasing fisheries production in China. Some projects related to rural aquaculture development are described below:
a. Development of Fishery Resources in Hongze County, (WFP-2633 Project). It was the first WFP fisheries project implemented in China. Its main objective was to resettle 2 000 fishing families living in poverty on their houseboats in Hongze Lake, to provide them a new livelihood by providing houses, schools, and a hospital, and to encourage them to develop aquaculture in the lake. The lake covers an area of 2 275 km2. It was one of the undeveloped regions of Jiangsu Province. Through 4 years of hard work in 7 project townships such as Linhuai, Chenghe townships, etc. the scheduled targets of the project were achieved with good socio-economic benefits. Two thousand fishermen families living in small boats settled down on land, of whom 2 791 fishermen went in for aquaculture production. Nearly 3 000 children studied in a good environment. The rate of enrolment went up from 76% to 95%. The fishery resources in the lake area were restored due to the practices of stocking fish and crab seeds, cultivation of 7 534 ha of water weed and establishment of protected regions. The fisheries output in 1986 reached 12 500 mt. The newly-built nursery pond of 200 ha, and 667 ha production pond registered significant benefits. The output of 1986 hit 3 252 mt of fish. Thus the total aquaculture output value amounted to 10.49 million yuan. The average annual income of fish culture labourers reached 919 yuan, and the people living in the project areas were also benefited from the setting up of pump station, feed processing factory, cold storage, harbour construction, electricity and water supply, hospital, etc. The project was evaluated as one of the most successful projects in China.b. Development of Aquaculture in Low-lying Area, Boyang Lake, Jiangxi Province (WFP-2799 Project). The Boyang Lake is the largest lake in China; its fish catch dropped from 38 200 mt in 1964 to 1 575 mt in 1984. And, as a result, the per capita income of the farmers and fishermen living in the four project townships was very low. The per capita income was only 155 yuan, less than half of the national rural average. The project was designed to transform about 3 000 ha low-lying land suitable for aquaculture into fish farms and support facilities such as hatcheries and cold storages; to provide job opportunities; to increase food consumption of the people living around the lake and ultimately to lessen the fishing pressure on the lake. From 1987 to 1990, 3 818.9 ha fish pond was put into production, 9 375 mt fish and 788 mt fingerling were produced, with a total output value of 33.44 million yuan. In 1990, the average income of fish culture labourers reached more than 1 700 yuan, 50% percent higher than those of agricultural labourers. Two thousand and six hundred rural surplus labourers were employed by the project. The people in the project area have gained great benefits in terms of income and protecting resources of the lake for future generations.
c Development of Aquaculture in Low-lying Saline, Alkaline Areas in Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang Province (WFP-2700 Project). The project area is located along the Hangzhou Bay in 47 townships of Shaoxing, Cixi and Shanyu counties, Zhejiang Province. Most of the land reclaimed proved too salty to be suitable for planting crops. The result was that the annual per capita income of the people was only about 100 yuan, far below the country's rural average income. The project was to establish fish farms as a suitable and sustainable economic activity on recently reclaimed marginal land. From 1984 to 1987, 36 fish farms were established with a total of 1 066 ha production ponds and 226 ha nursery ponds. Up to January 1988, a total of 3 357 mt of fish had been harvested and 349 mt of fingerlings produced. The income for each pond culture household was 2 074 yuan for production pond (1 530 households) and 1 382 yuan for nursery pond (500 households), which represents an increase of 180 to 300 percent over the pre-project household income of 500 yuan. 3 480 permanent and over 2 000 part-time jobs were created. One hundred and eighty five ha of pond embankments, out of a total of 400 ha, became productive as the salinity was reduced to an acceptable level over three years of cultivation, and in 1987, 1 459 mt animal fodder, 354 mt fish feed (bean-cake), 352 mt melons and 253 mt vegetables were produced with a total gross value of 298 000 yuan. Poultry, egg and pork production from the 355 animal farms put into operation in 1987 had a total gross value of 2.5 million yuan. The project has successfully demonstrated that marginal low-lying land can be put to more productive uses. Afterwards the local people built an additional 666 ha of fish ponds in the three project counties with this project as a model.
d. Development of Fish and Dairy Production in the Low-lying, Saline-alkaline Areas, Tianjin Municipality (WFP-2730 Project). The soil salinity of the 20 000 ha of low-lying saline-alkaline wasteland in Tianjin Municipality is around 1.6-3.0 per thousand which is not suitable for crop plantation. Over the years, transformation of these land has been done in many ways, but the results were not very satisfactory. The farmer's annual per capita income in these areas accounted for only 52.8% of the agricultural population of the municipality. The objective of this project was to make the best use of 4 500 ha low-lying saline-alkaline wasteland and play an important role in putting the natural resources of the city to rational use, helping the people in the project area to shake off poverty and to increase fish and milk supply of the city. In the three years from 1984 to 1987, 5 496 people were employed, of whom 2 738 (866 women) were engaged in fish culture and 2 758 (1 017 women) in animal husbandry. In 1986, the area of fish ponds reached 502 ha with a total output of 658.7 mt fish and a net profit of 831 300 yuan. The labourer's average income was 802.41 yuan. The planting of the raised fields reached 819.7 ha. There were 200 000 chickens, 4 600 ducks, 798 pigs, 508 goats and 32 cows raised every year. And by the end of 1986, 951.8 mt milk had been produced. In 1987, fish pond was further extended to 933.3 ha, which produced more than 2 000 mt fish and the per capita income increased by nearly 70%. The project proved that fish culture is a powerful economic activity for promoting socio-economic benefit to the rural poor.
e. Development of Coastal Aquaculture in Bohai Bay (WFP-2771 Project). The project sites are located in Huanghua Conuty, Hebei Province, and Lijin, Shonguang and Changyi counties, Shangdong Province. The objective of this project was to raise the living standard of submarginal fishermen whose income had dwindled due to depletion of the Bohai Sea marine resources, and to provide them with a new livelihood through prawn culture. Major construction was to convert nearly 4 000 ha unproductive mudflats and saline-alkaline plains into 2 200 ha prawn culture ponds as well as other infrastructure such as roads, bridges, pumping stations, hatcheries, feed mills, cold storages, etc. In 1989, 16 prawn farms were established with a total pond area of 2 860 ha in full operation. In 1988, 2 220 ha ponds were put into production and 2 089 mt prawn were harvested. The average income for a prawn culture labourer (4 171 households) was 1 920 yuan, increasing over 100% over the pre-project household income of 875 yuan. Five thousand one hundred and eighty six permanent jobs were created, including 4 171 pond operators, 205 management staff and assistants. There were 422 working in cold storages, 145 in feed processing, 183 in hatcheries and 58 in pumping stations. As seasonal employees, 13 worked in cold storages, 390 in parent prawn collection, 220 in transportation and marketing, and 182 in feed processing. Of the above employees, 866 women were permanent employees (16.7%) and 1 706 were seasonal workers (28%). Eighty-five percent of the permanent and seasonal workers were transferred from capture fisheries, thus lessoning the fishing pressure on the natural fish stocks in the Bohai Bay. Moreover, the project had a demonstration effect to the neighbouring areas. Since 1986, an additional 3 000 ha prawn ponds has been built by fishermen themselves with this project as a model.
f. Development of a Pilot Demonstration Plant for Compound Fish Feed (FAO/TCP/CPR/0053 Project). The project plant is located in Shaoxing County Zhejiang Province and has been outfitted with advanced equipment and technology. The purpose of this plant was to provide a model for the future development of much needed compound fish feed industry, and to facilitate the production of quality fish feed in support of strategy for developing nutritionally balanced artificial fish feeds to supplement and/or replace the traditionally used feed, thus allowing for the introduction of intensive culture practices. In 8 months of trial production (September 1990 to May 1991), the fish feed mill attained a production of 550 mt of fish, poultry and duck feed. The operation of this fish feed mill is progressing in a normal way and has become a good pilot demonstration plant for compound fish feed in the country.
g. Development of Integrated Fish Farming In Nine Cities (WFP-China 2814 Project). The project was to convert 9 735 ha of unused and marginal land into 6 833 ha of fish ponds in nine cities to increase their fish supply and to create job opportunities. The Fisheries Project Office of Ministry of Agriculture as an executive agency provided direct supervision and advice on all aspects of project implementation including fish farm design, construction and management. Through project implementation, 175 fish farms have been built. The project created employment of 8 455, of whom 6 008 are fish culture labourers, 687 skilled workers, 907 management staff, 418 technicians and 435 other workers. The project began in April 1987 and closed in March 1990. Its principle of “construction, production and benefits in the same year” has been achieved. In three years the total area brought under culture was 13 800 ha with fish output 34 090 mt (3 645 kg/ha), fingerlings output 7 662 mt (1 725 kg/ha). The total output value stood at 196.95 million yuan. Besides, the output values of planting, animal husbandry and processing were 7.94 million yuan, 10.62 million yuan, and 4.49 million yuan respectively. Along with the increase in of production, the per capita income of workers and fish supply in the cities increased. The project was highly successful.
h. China Freshwater Fisheries Project (Credit 1689-CHA). The project was financed by the World Bank, and its principal objective was to develop freshwater fish culture in the outskirts of the eight cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Harbin, Nanchang and Shenyang) by improving 6 100 ha existing fish ponds, using land unsuitable for crops to construct 11 100 ha new ponds, providing techniques and equipment for pond management, and strengthening support facilities for production and marketing of fish. The project is regarded as highly successful, and has played an important role in raising fish supplies. It is said that in Beijing fish markets at that time, one out of every three fish came from the project.
i. Pilot Project to Increase the Output Of Fish Farm (EEC/CHN/85/28 Project). The project was financed by EEC as a grant. Two feed mills with an annual production capacity of 10 000 mt each were constructed in Tianjin Municipality and Cixi County Zhejiang Province. Technologies of feed formulation and processing were transferred to the Chinese technicians and scientists. The project contributed to further development of formulated compound feed for intensive culture system.
j. Fisheries Development In Qinghai (UNDP/FAO Assisted Project CPR/88/077). This was the first international assistance to the fishery sector in Qinghai Province. Its two main objectives were: i) improvement of the local carp fishery in Qinghai Lake by introduction of good management practices and development of hatchery techniques for production of juveniles of this little-known species; and ii) demonstration of the technical and economic feasibility of commercial rainbow trout farming in Qinghai Province. It was a successful project, particularly in the rainbow trout farming in the Longyangxia Reservoir.
k. Northern China Mariculture and Resources Management Project (ADB Loan Project). In this project, a dozen of counties in Liaoning and Shandong Provinces along the Bohai Sea made use of the loans provided by the Asian Development Bank and fund allocated by the local governments to set up hatcheries and expand shellfish and seaweeds culture areas, so as to fully utilizing the local shallow sea and mudflat to enlarge marine culture production on one hand and on other hand to improve the local fisheries resources management. The project is now being implemented.
