China will combine its marine ranching projects and its deep-sea aquaculture equipment projects into a new category of "offshore ranching" projects during the 15th Five-Year Plan, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) told a press conference.
The change follows President Xi Jinping's idea of a "blue granary", a food supply drawn from the sea as well as the land. MARA described the new approach as one that brings conservation and aquaculture production together "towards a model that prioritises ecology, efficient production, land-sea integration and coordinated development".
In practice, projects will no longer be built around single pieces such as artificial reefs or aquaculture equipment. They are to cover the whole fisheries chain: breeding of aquatic stock, nearshore and offshore aquaculture, and seafood processing and distribution. Scattered projects are also to give way to clusters with pooled resources and regional coordination.
MARA said support for marine ranching and offshore aquaculture will now be channelled through the offshore ranching projects, with no change in the overall level of support. It is working with the Ministry of Finance on specific support measures, with marine ranching and offshore aquaculture equipment named as priorities. Funding for green aquaculture and for coastal fishing port economic zones continues, and new priorities include more intelligent monitoring systems in fishing ports and closer oversight of fisheries safety. Coastal provinces keep the freedom to back such projects through general transfer payments.
The ministry gave figures for the previous plan period. By the end of 2025, China's output of aquatic products was 16.9% higher than at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the fisheries sector's total economic output had risen 28.8%, and fishermen's average disposable income per person had climbed 31.3%.
It also listed the problems: product quality and safety, production safety, resource security and compliance with international fisheries rules, along with uneven and insufficient development across the industry. "Continued policy support is therefore needed to guide and safeguard sector development," MARA said.
Reported by Amanda Lim for AgNavigator.
Photo: Vmenkov / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: AgNavigator
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