On a hot summer night, about three or five friends to pick up skewers, in addition to beer crayfish, how can you get less squid whiskers; Chinese New Year's Eve dinner table, children open their eyes, waiting for their father to serve a plate of carefully roasted squid grilled; a small steamed bun shop in Shanghai, the store's newly launched black bun color is attractive, the original use of edible squid juice...
Squid is rich in protein and amino acids needed by the human body, and its nutritional value is extremely high. At the National Pelagic Fisheries Base, ships transporting squid have recently set sail. They go to fishing sites off the coast of Peru and Argentina in the southern hemisphere to bring back the squid they caught. In the vast sea, where will the squid appear? This is inseparable from the efforts of three generations of "squid professors" of Shanghai Ocean University.
Today is World Oceans Day, and this reporter visited Professor Chen Xinjun, dean of the School of Marine Sciences of Shanghai Ocean University. Since the new millennium, this "squid forecast" released every year at the national fishery-related conference has become an important basis for the formulation of scientific fishing plans in the eyes of major distant-water fishery enterprises, which is as important as weather forecasting.
Bring the squid to the people's table from scratch
People who know about China's distant-water fisheries have heard of Wang Yaogeng, the "father of Chinese squid fishing". At the end of the 1980s, China's offshore fishery resources faced the problem of excessive fishing pressure, and most mass fisheries and state-owned fishery enterprises struggled. Where should China's fishing go? Wang Yaogeng was determined to explore a way out. In 1989, through the Sino-Soviet (Russian) fishery negotiations, the Soviet Union expressed its willingness to give our side a quota of 2,000 tons of Pacific pleated soft fish in the waters of the Japanese Sea Soviet, and Wang Yaogeng actively responded and undertook this task. In August of that year, Wang Yaogeng and his team took the "Puling" out to sea to explore the fishing grounds.
Photo: August 11, 1994 - Professor Wang Yaogeng carries out scientific research work on a fishing boat
In the vast sea, how easy is it to find a school of squid in a lonely boat? Based on years of experience, Wang Yaogeng judged that the fisheries of fish in the middle and pelagic oceans should have some commonality. So, he used the only meteorological fax "sea condition" map that could be received on the ship to compare the literature to find a fishing ground. After more than a month of arduous fishing exploration, the team finally found a fishing ground where they could operate. Wang Yaogeng's confidence doubled, while he mobilized everyone to explore how to adjust the squid fishing lamps and set fish lamps to improve fishing production, while thinking about how to industrialize the squid fishery and promote ...
At the end of the 20th century, professor Wang Yaogeng and others developed the Japanese sea squid fishing research project to create an annual output value of more than 1 billion yuan for the country
Two years later, wang Yaogeng's four squid fishing boats achieved impressive results in the Operation in the Sea of Japan, and each boat achieved profitability, one of which recovered its investment costs in the same year. The news did not go away, and many fishing companies came to learn from it. Wang Yao cultivators did not refuse, and together with the team gave patient guidance. Soon, a Chinese squid fishing fleet that could produce operations in the Sea of Japan began to take shape. In 1992, this fleet of squid fishing received a promising harvest and our marine fishing was revived.
30 years of spring and autumn to make important contributions to distant-water fisheries
By 2019, China's distant-water squid fishing fishery has undergone 30 years of development, from scratch, from small to large, has become the world's largest, highest yield, the strongest technology of the ocean squid fishing fishery country, has made significant contributions to China's distant-water fishery. "Distant-water squid fishing has become a pillar industry of China's distant-water fishery, and the current operating fishing vessels and fishing output account for about 1/3 and 1/4 of the total respectively." Chen Xinjun introduced.
Pictured: Professor Chen Xinjun at a squid fishing ground in the North Pacific
At present, the reserves of cephalopod fishery resources in the global ocean range from 50 million tons to 100 million tons, and the annual catch is about 4 million tons, of which squid accounts for 70%. As an annual fish, squid is in the middle of the marine food chain, and too low a catch is a waste, and too high can create an imbalance in the food chain. Fishing for squid can be described as the work of "empty glove white wolves". The squid with ten tentacles is a gluttonous guy, and in the dark of night, put down the hook, turn on the underwater lamp, and it will come to a "hungry tiger pounce" - it will hold the hook and can no longer break free. "Of course, we work during the day, but the squid moves vertically day and night, and the daytime operation will put the hook deeper, and it is not as efficient as at night." Chen Xinjun added.
Pictured: Samples of juvenile squid are collected
He also remembers that several ocean-going enterprises had returned in vain and asked him for help: Can we have an estimate of the squid infestation so that we can "know ourselves and know each other"? These demands from the front lines of fisheries have contributed to the generation of a sophisticated technology called forecasting.
In line with the sustainable development concept of "harmony between man and sea", Chen Xinjun and his team have developed a new technology for the discovery and resource cognition of new squid farms in the ocean, and found 4 new squid fisheries in the world, accounting for one-third of the existing world squid fisheries. At the same time, the team completed the 30-year survey distribution map of squid resources in 9 sea areas around the world, and created a squid habitat model and a squid resource distribution prediction map. "We have independently developed a multi-functional near-real-time forecast system for squid fishing conditions to provide information support for the timely arrival of squid fishing boats and accurate fishing." Chen Xinjun said.
In recent years, the accuracy rate of "squid forecasting" has generally exceeded 80%, reversing the previous "headless fly" fishing method in one fell swoop, not only becoming an important reference for domestic fishing enterprises, but even the overseas fishing processing industry may fluctuate and expand its influence.
Innovative development Looks forward to sending out more Chinese voices
As the project leader and technical backbone, Chen Xinjun has presided over and completed nearly 50 major projects such as national, provincial and ministerial scientific and technological research projects, and the development of fishery resources on the high seas of the Ministry of Agriculture. With the support of the Fisheries Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and the China Distant Water Fisheries Association, he led the team to organize the implementation of the development of squid resources in the North Pacific, New Zealand, the Southwest Atlantic, the off-coast of Peru and the northwest waters of the Indian Ocean, and carried out research on the distribution of resources, the formation mechanism of the central fishery, the marine environmental conditions and the impact of resource fisheries and fishing techniques, and obtained some important research results, and won the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award for many times. In order to ensure that China obtains more marine living resources and high-quality aquatic products in the international high seas.
Pictured: A squid fishing boat operating at night
With the development of artificial intelligence, Chen Xinjun and his team are also applying this technology to squid forecasting, through the establishment of big data models, to obtain more accurate predictions. "It turns out that the underwater lamps for trapping squid consume a lot of energy and there are pollution problems, so we consider improving them into energy-saving and environmentally friendly lamps." Chen Xinjun told reporters.
At present, relevant regional organizations related to squid fishing are being established, and as a responsible pelagic squid fishing power, China's accession is imperative. In recent years, the team led by Chen Xinjun has undertaken a series of national implementation tasks. They implement fishing logs and port sampling plans, analyze and summarize distant-water fishery data, regularly participate in scientific and legal consultations and negotiations of regional fisheries management organizations, and participate in relevant global organization meetings, etc., to fully support China's participation in international distant-water fisheries governance and safeguard China's legitimate distant-water fisheries rights and interests. "As a marine science and technology worker, only by constantly exploring new technologies and obtaining data can we better help Chinese fishery enterprises and send out more Chinese voices in the field of marine science." Chen Xinjun said. Under his leadership, the members of the fulfillment team used scientific weapons to fight for China's maritime rights and interests in international negotiations and escorted the development and growth of China's ocean-going squid fishing fishery. Chen Xinjun and the team developed squid fishing technology is widely used in all more than 50 ocean-going squid fishing enterprises in China, more than 600 squid fishing boats, since 2009, China's ocean-going squid fishing output ranked first in the world for 9 consecutive years.
Pictured: Operating in a Peruvian fishery
Looking forward to the future, Chen Xinjun said that he will continue to "scientifically find fish", enhance the cognitive ability of squid resources, further grasp the life history of squid, and constantly strive to develop new fishing grounds to contribute to the construction of the national blue granary. At the same time, it is necessary to carry out refined prediction through remote sensing and other technologies, combined with means such as the optimization of fish collection lamps, to enhance the development capacity of squid resources and further achieve "efficient fishing". "We must carry out more accurate resource assessment and forecasting, and release the international squid index on this basis, grasp the advantages of the squid fishing industry, and reflect our great power responsibility in the development of the world squid fishery." Chen Xinjun said.
Xinmin Evening News reporter Gao Yang