To build a "blue granary", experts recommend vigorously developing the five major industries of aquatic products

In terms of ensuring food security, the role of the "blue granary" cannot be ignored.

On June 3, at the 3rd China Fishery and Fishing Village Revitalization Forum, Li Jiale, vice president of Shanghai Ocean University, predicted that the waters will provide more and more food in the future.

He mentioned that the world's new population remains above 86 million people every year, and the per capita arable land area has dropped from 0.44 hectares in 1960 to 0.202 hectares in 2020, and is expected to further decline to 0.15 hectares by 2050. Less than 10% of human food on Earth comes from water, and the rest is produced on arable land and pastures, but there are 71% of water bodies on the Earth's surface, and this proportion is not matched. This requires attention to the role of the "blue granary".

As early as 1995, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) clarified the relationship between fisheries and food security, believing that the development of fisheries and the increase of aquatic product supply are an important measure to ensure food security.

In 2007, Tang Qisheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, first proposed the concept of "blue granary". Scholars believe that in the context of China's land space can not meet the growing food demand of the people, it is necessary to find another way, fully tap the huge potential of the ocean in food supply, actively build a "blue granary", form a new highland for national food security, and achieve the purpose of "hiding grain in the sea".

In China, the production of aquatic products is also gradually increasing. Since 1988, aquaculture production in China has exceeded capture production, with a stock-catch ratio of 52:48. Since 1990, China's aquatic product output has jumped to the top of the world, and it has been 30 consecutive years. By 2019, aquatic product production reached 64.8 million tons, accounting for about 1/3 of the world's total aquatic products (210 million tons). In the same year, aquatic products accounted for 31% of the animal protein produced in China throughout the year.

At the forum, Cui Lifeng, director of the National Aquatic Technology Promotion Station and secretary general of the Chinese Fisheries Society, also mentioned that the aquaculture industry, especially aquaculture and related industries, plays an important role in ensuring national food safety. In the future, China should vigorously develop the "five major industries" of aquatic products (facility aquaculture industry, rice-fishery comprehensive breeding industry, large water surface ecological breeding fishery, saline-alkali water fishery and agricultural comprehensive utilization industry, and recreational fishery industry).

For example, the development of facility-based aquaculture can greatly improve the utilization rate of land and water resources, while the quality and quality of aquaculture products are safe and controllable; the rice and fishery comprehensive breeding industry is a modern ecological circular agricultural model, "one water, two uses, one field and multiple harvests", not competing with people for grain, not competing with grain for land;

Another example is the comprehensive utilization industry of saline and alkali water fisheries and farmers. In areas where saline-alkali water is relatively abundant, based on the carrying capacity of water and soil resources and the environment, through digging ponds to store water, changing salt in Taitian, and assisting in the construction of drainage and irrigation facilities, aquatic animals and plants are cultivated in ponds, and salt-tolerant economic crops are planted in Taitian, so as to achieve the goal of "controlling alkali by fishing, changing soil to create fields, paying equal attention to fisheries and farmers, and restoring ecology".

Cui Lifeng said that there is great potential for the development of saline water fisheries and farmers comprehensive utilization industry. China's saline-alkali resources are about 1.487 billion mu, and saline-alkali waters are about 690 million mu, mainly distributed in the northeast, north China, northwest inland areas and the coastal areas north of the Yangtze River. At present, China's utilization of saline and alkali water is still very limited, and the development potential is very large, and the development should be accelerated.