A Chinese hotel company has partnered with the government of a small Chinese town to develop a perch-farming project in the village.

Beijing-headquartered Zhongle Group signed the contract with the government of Taitou, a town on the outskirts of Tianjin, which itself is a major port city near Beijing, according to a recent press release.

The hotel group has committed to investing CNY 1 billion (USD 140 million, EUR 130 million) in two phases to create a “company and breeder” model, renting local land on which the facility will be built and engaging local farmers in a collective to farm the fish using techniques and technology brought in by Zhongle.

“The Zhongle Intelligent Fishery Park will introduce fully automatic breeding technology to save land and ensure a low-carbon, intelligent, and efficient breeding model,” the company said. 

The firm has also stated that if all goes to plan, the project should create 400 to 500 local jobs and CNY 60 million (USD 8.4 million, EUR 7.8 million) in tax revenue annually for the local government.

Speaking at the project launch, Taitou Mayor Xin Changyan said much of the preparatory groundwork on the project was already underway. 

Several other aquaculture projects are also underway as China aims to increase its fish-farming output. A project in Guangdong aimed at farming mandarin fish has received backing from e-commerce firm JD.com.

Grouper farming has also exploded in the country over the past few years, outstripping the aquaculture production of all other species in the country.

China’s overall seafood output rose by 4 percent year over year between January and July 2024, largely thanks to the continued growth of such projects, with production from aquaculture and mariculture together rising to 58.1 million metric tons in the seven-month period.

Source - https://www.seafoodsource.com