China launches world’s first giant floating fish farm
- The Guoxin 1 is almost as big as an aircraft carrier and will allow thousands of tonnes fish to be farmed in the deep seas
- The vessel will allow different types of fish to be bred in different climates
Guoxin 1, equipped with 15 tanks, each larger than two standard swimming pools, set sail from the eastern port city of Qingdao on Friday.
The mobile farm, the largest of its kind in the world, will travel to the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea where different fish can be cultivated in their ideal temperatures. The first batch of yellow croakers bred in the East China Sea is expected to be on the market by the autumn.
The mega vessel is 250 metres (820ft) long and 45 metres wide, with a displacement of 130,000 tonnes, according to state broadcaster CGTN, which added that it is large enough to survive typhoons.
01:15
World’s first ‘smart’ fishing ship Guoxin-1 unveiled in China
Chen Zhixin, the chief scientist of the Fishery Machinery and Instrument Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, told Xinhua that the new vessel would allow aquaculture to be carried out in the deep seas.