Covers an area of more than 500 acres
The profit of 100 mu is 300,000 to 500,000 yuan
About a third of the West Coast New Area
Farmed pike crabs are produced here
Take a picture of the pike crab breeding area at the southwest end of Daying Village in Dachang Town
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the crab farmers in Dachang Town, West Coast New Area, have gradually ushered in the crab harvest season. Recently, the reporter twice came to the southwest end of Daying Village in Dachang Town, which is divided into mirror-like crab fields, to explore the hard work and harvest of crab farmers.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, at 5 o'clock in the morning, the tide of Huangjiatang Bay arrived as promised, and it went up the river channel of the Sweetwater River and plunged north for more than ten miles before stopping. In this scene, Zhao Yuxiu, a 58-year-old crab farmer, has been waiting for a long time. The three pumps are turned on together, and the fresh seawater once again gushes into the 100-meter ditch that has been used for many years, stirring up churning white waves, like a vibrant white dragon, rushing into the 100 acres of crab fields on the west coast, the farthest from the Yellow Sea.
Two big tides every month, a good time to change water
Walking 300 meters, the crab field, which is divided into blocks like arable land, is calm on the water. In the shadow of the oxygenated tube in the shallow water, a male crab the size of a palm is waving crab claws, sneaking the clams that were missed yesterday into his mouth, chewing for a long time, suddenly blowing bubbles and spitting out a pile of rice grain clam shells, and the clam meat is eaten cleanly.
"There are 40 acres of crab field waters in this area, and each crab field is three-dimensional farming, including zebra shrimp, pike crabs, and clams." Working on the crab field for many years, Zhao Yuxiu was strong, dark-skinned, spoke in a loud voice, and made hearty laughter from time to time. "Pike crabs like clean water quality, and low clams can be filtered and have the effect of purifying water. Zebra shrimp are good at sand drilling and prefer water bodies with moderate turbidity in the lower and middle layers. For the habits of his own shrimp soldiers and crab generals, Zhao Yu cultivated his palm and introduced the head of the Tao.
More than ten miles away from the mouth of the Sweetwater River, the twice-monthly tide is the best time for crab fields to change water. "The tide generally rises down the Sweetwater River to the outskirts of the crab field, at which point we have to turn on the pumps that have been installed on the periphery to change the water, which is twice a month, each time for about 4 days." Zhao Yuxiu told reporters that during the water change, fresh seawater will be slowly injected into the crab field, so that the shrimp and crabs can better adapt to changes in water quality and happily grab the nutrients in the water.
Once burned salt flats, now harvest ponds
Zhao Yu repaired the boat and patrolled the crab pond
On August 22, the reporter visited the breeding base again and saw a different scene. Zhao Yuxiu told reporters that the pike crab breeding area located in the southwest of Daying Village in Dachang Town covers an area of more than 500 mu. "Until the 1970s, it was used for salt and was called a salt flat by the locals." Zhao Yuxiu said that in the early 1970s, the salt flats were changed to rice fields, but because the land was poor, the rice planted had almost no yield.
"In 1985, the village decided to change its business thinking, and the organizers dug more than 120 acres of ponds here, and I raised freshwater fish such as tilapia and carp here, relying on the freshwater supply of the fengchan river and the well next to it, but the benefits were not good." Zhao Pingyuan, a 65-year-old farmer, told reporters that around 2000, the business idea here changed again, and it was changed to a marine aquaculture area for the cultivation of sea shrimp and pike crabs, which gradually developed to today's area.
"Autumn winds, crab feet itch." With the arrival of autumn, the pike crabs have entered this year's harvest season. Standing at the edge of the crab field, Zhao Yuxiu and his helpers pulled up the crab net that had been laid down in the morning. As the 80-meter-long flaky net is slowly pulled out of the water, the pike crab is squeezed and hung between the mesh holes like a fruit.
Zhao Yuxiu cast a net to catch shrimp and crabs to check their growth
One person pulled the net and one person took the crab, and after a while, the round basket under Zhao Yuxiu's feet was filled with crabs. "Usually we use this kind of disposable hanging net to catch crabs, put the net into the water in advance, and pull it up the next day, and many crabs will be hung on the net and pulled up." Sometimes it is necessary to check the growth of crabs and shrimp, so we directly drive a small boat to catch it with a rotary net, which can catch crabs and shrimp together in this way, and the amount will not be too large, easy to observe, and avoid affecting too many shrimp and crabs. Zhao Yuxiu told reporters.
"At present, the crabs are about 3 or 2, and many are molting, indicating that the whole has begun to grow up a little, and it is no problem for the Mid-Autumn Festival to grow to more than 4 or 2." Experienced Zhao Yuxiu carefully removed the molting crab and put it back into the water along with the mother crab. "The harvest before the Mid-Autumn Festival is not large, only a small number of male crabs are sold, and the female crabs are not yet timely, because the temperature in the north is low, the crab seedlings are sprinkled late, and the crab yellow inside has not yet grown." Zhao Yuxiu smiled mysteriously, and then introduced: Sometimes in order to sell a good price, they will keep the mother crab all the time, transfer it to the greenhouse when it is cold, and then sell it before and after the Spring Festival, generally a pound can be sold for more than seventy or eighty yuan. Of course, this breeding time is extended, the cost is also greatly increased, in case the market is not good, it will lose, so the storage of crabs is like cellar cabbage, there are also risks.
Inspection and feeding, an average of 9 hours a day
Although the harvest is good, it also comes from long-term careful care. The surface of the wide crab field is covered with oxygenated pipes on all sides and in the center, and the sturdy cement field is smooth and brightened by the crab farmer's feet.
Zhao Yuxiu plucked the crabs hanging from the hanging net, and the female crabs in them were thrown into the water
"Aquaculture by the sea, raising anything is not simple." Zhao Yuxiu said that on weekdays, he would get up at 4 a.m. every day and patrol along more than 100 acres of crab fields. "In the current season, the early morning hours are the trough of the oxygen content of the pool water, which needs to be inspected every hour, and if a problem is found, the oxygen supply equipment must be opened quickly to ensure survival." Three volt days, sometimes can not sleep all night, once the sleep is big, catch up with the day is too hot, oxygen supply is not timely, crab large pieces of death, that scene is too painful. Zhao Yuxiu said.
After busy with this set of itineraries, it was about 7 o'clock in the morning, in the morning, Zhao Yuxiu would deal with other related matters, and by 3 p.m., he would have to carry out another "prescribed action" - preparing and feeding.
"I prepared 6 kinds of barracuda crab food, rice grain-sized clams, a shellfish called oil skin lai, we called haihong purple mussels, trash fish, clams and prawn heads, all of which combined at a cost of 1. 5 yuan a catty, crabs eat fattening fast and healthy, those ready-made feed, we do not feed. "Zhao Yuxiu said that now that the crab has grown up, many foods can be fed directly, only Haihong needs to break the shell to rinse, and then the machine crushes and feeds, because it has more impurities in the body, which will affect the water quality." The trash fish are now ice plates that need to be cut into small pieces of about 3 cm with a knife and fed. Zhao Yuxiu said.
The trash fish used to feed crabs are stored in cold storage
750 pounds of fish, 1,000 pounds of shellfish, from 3 p.m. to process the food, until 6 p.m. to prepare, sail into the water with a shovel to throw and feed. "Close to 2,000 pounds of food, it takes nearly 3 hours to feed." In order to ensure that each organism in the three-dimensional culture can obtain food in a balanced manner, crab farmers also need to carry out special feeding and observation of the "inspection points" set every day.
"At the beginning, when raising small crab seedlings, the pike crabs the size of small green bean grains were fed like small babies, and if they didn't pay attention to it, they would die a lot." Zhao Yuxiu said: "To raise these little guys, you have to boil the fish rotten, cut them into thin wires one by one, and then feed them, which is not easier than taking care of children." "Pike crabs that grow to 2 or 2 weights can crush the clam shell and eat meat, and the feeding begins to be relatively "reduced".
"Feed once a day to make sure you're full." Zhao Yuxiu smiled, "After opening the sea, it is simple, you can give them fresh fish to eat." ”
Pulling electricity and changing the bottom, it is not easy to raise crabs
Speaking of pike crab seedlings, Zhao Yuxiu's thoughts returned to a year ago. "Pike crab seedlings we crab farmers themselves can not cultivate, because they have higher requirements for water temperature, water quality, etc., we have to go to the local crab hatchery to buy." He told reporters with a smile, "I remember when I first went to buy crab seedlings, I was surprised, how to throw these little guys into the rice bran." ”
The crabs hanging on the net are very alive
It turns out that the pike crab has a habit, which naturally exists when it is born or a crab seedling. "Although they are very small, when they are hugged in a ball of crabs, they will still use crab claws to push each other and fight, which is their nature." Zhao Yuxiu said that in order to avoid the death of crab seedlings due to fighting, crab farmers racked their brains, experimented continuously, and finally came up with a good way. "Throw them into the rice bran, and then turn them upside down, let the 'crab balls' spread out, so that they are isolated by the rice bran, can only use crab claws to pinch the rice bran, and then oxygenate and seal, add ice to cool down, so that after bringing back, the survival rate of crab seedlings will be greatly increased."
Just transporting seedlings is so difficult, and the hard work of breeding crabs is not only that.
"This place is a wilderness, far from the residential area, in order to make the crab field have better equipment protection, I pulled more than a thousand meters of cables from the old place at my own expense, and it cost more than 500,000 yuan alone." Zhao Yuxiu said that not only that, crab farming is not a one-time investment, and the daily care of the water quality of the crab field is even more painstaking.
Zhao Yuxiu told reporters that crabs are three-dimensionally raised with many seafood, but these creatures need to eat and drink Lasa. Eating well is to feed on time, but the pollution of the water body by feces is not enough to rely on the tide to change the water.
Therefore, crab farmers also need to clean the water and change the bottom of the crab field before the seedlings are dropped. "Water purification is the use of bleaching powder, according to the calculation of 1 meter deep water body, every 10 acres of water surface with 50 pounds, bleaching powder will purify the water body will sink to the bottom, then carry out the bottom work." Zhao Yuxiu said that the bottom change was to use white ash blocks for "burning." ”
"It is still a 1-meter-deep body of water, and every 4 acres of land should be invested in 80 kilograms of white ash blocks, driving a boat, as full as possible to spread, to ensure that the entire water body is covered." Zhao Yuxiu told reporters that the white ash block encounters water to produce high temperatures, and the water body is purified while sinking to the bottom, and the bottom of the pool is burned and purified. When cleaning the pond in winter, it is necessary to use a bulldozer to clean up all the debris at the bottom of the pond before continuing to cultivate. For crab farmers, the use of these purifying materials is safer and more environmentally friendly than some drugs, although it is more tedious and hard work, but it can also make themselves more secure and down-to-earth, worthy of conscience.
The advantage is more unique, and the crab is not worried about selling
Zhao Yuxiu was picking a crab
With a week to go before the opening of the sea, how can the fertile farmed pike crab compete with the sea crab market? The crab farmers didn't seem worried. "Although the farmed pike crab conflicts with the time of sea crab marketing, it also has its own advantages, and it does not need to be shipped to other places, and it can be completely digested in the local market." Zhao Yuxiu said, "Compared with sea crab fishing, farmed crabs have artificial intervention control, which is slightly better in overall fertility." Because the crabs are wild all year round, they cannot eat fully every day, and the fertility is naturally uneven. ”
In addition to the degree of fat and thinness, the taste gap caused by different transportation and storage links is more critical. "Our farmed crabs are digested locally, crab farmers face the vendors directly, and there is no other link between the crab field and the market, how much is sold, ensuring freshness and natural sweetness." Zhao Yuxiu analyzed, "There are two situations of sea crab fishing, southern crabs need to be transported for a long time, through ice, salt and other ways to ensure survival, affecting the taste; local crabs because of the inability to control the number of catches lead to the need to preserve, also in order to maintain the taste and affect the taste." Freshly caught sea crabs are delicious, but once transported and stored, they are uncontrollable. ”
Under the meticulous calculation of crab farmers, the pike crabs in the crab field can continue to last until the next year's "May Day" from the autumn. "Harvest male crabs have been sold before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and female crabs continue to be fed. During the time when the frost falls to the snow festival, the mother crab is transferred from the open air to the greenhouse, at which time the mother crab can no longer molt and continue to grow, but only warms and survives. It will be sold until New Year's Day next year, and it will be sold until 'May Day'. "Zhao Yuxiu said that this can not only ensure a good price, but also conform to the growth law of pike crabs." Male crabs have the sweetest flesh at this time, while female crabs are the fattest when they are sold. After 'May Day', the crab yellow will form eggs in the crab navel, which is commonly known as 'pulling flowers', when the mother crab is not delicious. ”
With unique advantages and proven sales ideas, crab farmers often outstrip supply of barracuda crabs. "This year's output is expected to be more than 10,000 catties, which can bring profits of 300,000 to 500,000 yuan." Zhao Yuxiu smiled.
During the conversation, more than a dozen tons of shrimp heads that had been predetermined arrived. Zhao Yuxiu pushed the trolley and began to unload the goods alone, and the old and strong arms were full of strength, which raised the simple yearning of the crab farmers.
Pike crab farming, mainly in two places
Where are the main distributions of farmed pike crabs in Qingdao? What is the overall yield? On August 22, the reporter interviewed Wang Wang, director of the Financial Department of the Municipal Ocean Development Bureau, according to him, Qingdao pike crab farming has a certain scale, but for the specific figures of the breeding area and output, because of the large changes, there is no very accurate statistics. "At present, the largest area of pike crab farming in our city is The New Area of Jimo and the West Coast, of which Jimo farmed crabs are mainly distributed in Fengcheng and Tianheng. Others like Laoshan, Chengyang and Jiaozhou also have farmed pike crabs, but the scale is relatively small. Director Wang told reporters.
On the morning of August 22, the relevant technical personnel of the West Coast New Area Marine Development Bureau introduced that because of the implementation of the Blue Bay rectification in recent years, the pike crab breeding area in the new area has been reduced compared with the past, and the current aquaculture area is More concentrated in the Red Rock Cliff, Wangtai Sea Area and Dachang, Boli Sea, the total area of pike crab farming in these two sea areas is about 1500 acres, because the overall output is not very large, and the pike crabs produced on the West Coast are basically digested locally.
How to choose a good crab, the old crab farmer teaches you
Many citizens like to eat pike crabs, but they always learn how to choose, so the reporter asked experienced crab farmers to support them and introduce the tips for choosing pike crabs.
Zhao Yuxiu told reporters that the first thing to look at when choosing crabs is to look at the color. The color is very "tender", and the more transparent ones are lean and fleshless. The color is as white as toothpaste, and if it is slightly yellowed, it will have better fatness.
Secondly, try to be soft and hard, the crab shell is inferior if it collapses softly, and the hard is excellent. Turning the belly of the pike crab upside down, the sharp corners on both sides of the crab shell are tight, and you can see the dark red color, and the filling is full, indicating that the crab is yellow and fat.
In addition, male crab claws are slender and female crabs are thick and short. Other feet are pinched tightly to give you high fatness.
Zhao Yuxiu also revealed to reporters the trick of identifying "sick crabs.". Pike crabs generally have two diseases - "toothpaste disease" and "lean disease". Toothpaste disease can cause crab meat to become sticky and "noodle", light and tasteless; thin disease, as the name suggests, can cause crabs to be thin and empty.
Put the pike crab face up, pinch the last pendulum foot down pressure, observe the membrane at the junction between the foot and the crab body, the film has a small yellow dot is normal, if it is all yellow, it will suffer from toothpaste disease, if the film collapses and wrinkles, it will suffer from emaciosis.
In addition, pike crabs with less vitality are not recommended for purchase.
Have you eaten crab lately?
Morning post reporter Zhao Yuxun correspondent Li Liang