USSEC Conducts China Aquaculture Annual Evaluation Conference
- Category:
- Aquaculture
From June 10 to 13, USSEC’s China Aquaculture Program conducted its annual conference for the evaluation of the results of USSEC’s feeding demos and other activities completed in 2018. More than 40 participants of government officials, extension specialists, feeding demo field managers, feedmillers, and industry representatives attended the conference, including Cui Lifeng, Director-General of China National Extension Center for Fisheries Technology (NEC), the top fisheries technology extension agency in China, of Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs (MARA), and three NEC division directors.
Following by the welcome from Xiaoping Zhang, USSEC Regional Director – Greater China, Mr. Cui spoke about China’s aquaculture status and the cooperation between USSEC and NEC. Mr. Cui complimented USSEC’s contribution to the development of China’s aquaculture industry and stressed the importance of continuous cooperation for the mutual benefit of both countries. Toward the end of his speech, Mr. Cui expressed the following expectations from USSEC:
- Continue the improvement of In Pond Raceway System (IPRS) technology, especially in the area of waste removal efficiency. In theory, the system should be able to remove around 70 percent of solid wastes, not the 35 percent as reported by some of the operators;
- Promote the soy-based ration to further replace fishmeal-based, particularly the wild-caught fish, for carnivorous species for the protection of the ocean resource, the prevention of fish disease, and sustainable development of aquaculture;
- Conduct more technical training in both the U.S. and China, more importantly and practically in China, due to some restrictions on overseas travel;
- Promote two-way trade opportunities, as the U.S. is the second largest destination for China’s aquaculture products.
USSEC feels these are all very practical, good points. USSEC has already been doing the first three and will begin efforts on the fourth.
In addition to Mr. Cui’s encouraging remarks, Dr. Xue Min, senior researcher from China Academy for Agriculture Sciences (CAAS) reported the results of the lab study on the comparison of the nutritional advantages on aquatic animals between U.S. Soy and soy from other regions with U.S. Soy being more advantageous.
More than 10 feeding demo field managers also gave presentations on the feeding demo results. Most measured up to USSEC’s expectations. USSEC staff discussed details with these cooperators and worked out plans for future improvement.
