June 18, 2019 — The announcement has racked up 30,000 views on a Chinese industry website and sources in the country have described it as “huge”. The head of China’s Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries Department, Zhang Xianliang, said it is “unprecedented” and that it would be “very important” for China’s aquaculture sector “over the next two-to-three years”.
Wang Songlin, president of the Qingdao Marine Conservation Society, told Undercurrent News there would be clear winners and losers. Many of China’s legion of shrimp farmers using low-tech, intensive farming systems in coastal areas potentially face increased regulatory pressure, he said.
The document innocuously titled Ideas on Accelerating the Green Development of China’s Aquaculture Sector does not immediately stand out.
But it is the stamp of China’s State Council, the chief administrative body of the Chinese government, comprising a select group of 35 officials and chaired by China’s premier, Li Keqiang, that has generated excitement among industry executives, farmers, and academics within China’s massive aquaculture sector.