10,000-tonne salmon RAS planned for Chinese city
Land-based facility may be first of many as country looks for 200,000-tonne annual production by 2030
A 10,000-tonnes-per-year land-based salmon farm is to be built in Shenyang, a city of 9.1 million people in Liaoning province, northeast China, it has been reported. And it may be the first of 20 such facilities as China seeks to reduce its requirement for imported salmon.
Aquaculture blogger Zhongde (Daniel) Huang wrote on LinkedIn that local government representatives from Sujiatun – one of 10 districts of Shenyang – signed an agreement with investor CYBG Group Co., Ltd, and the operator of the Beijing New Salmon Ze Aquatic Technology Co., on Friday.
The RAS facility will have real-time monitoring of water quality, a constant water temperature of 13°C, dissolved oxygen, and optimised feeding and disease prevention and control through AI algorithms.
Vertically integrated
New Salmon Ze Aquatic Technology will control the whole value chain, from egg hatching and grow out to processing and cold chain distribution, realising “24 hours direct delivery from farm to table”, with freshness “far exceeding that of imported products”.
The facility will have 99% water recycling, with effluent water treated by biochemical filtration, UV sterilisation and other treatments, reducing pollutants by more than 80%, reported Huang.
The cost of the project is said to be 2.3 billion Chinese Yuan (ÂŁ236.5 million / NOK 3.26bn).
In the future, with the strong investment support from CYBG, it is planned to lay out more than 20 salmon RAS with an annual capacity of more than 10,000 tonnes level across the country. It is expected land-based salmon production will amount 200,000 tonnes annually by 2030.
The Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are understood to be next in line for RAS salmon farms.