New marine platform to transform fishing and tourism

The new semi-submersible intelligent aquaculture tourism platform in South China's Hainan province. [Photo/CHINA DAILY]

A new semi-submersible intelligent aquaculture tourism platform delivered for use in mid-March is expected to play a role in promoting the development of aquaculture and tourism in Hainan province in the months to come.

Named Pu Sheng 1, it was designed by the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion of the Chinese Academy of Science and built by Guangzhou Shipyard International for an ocean technology company in Hainan. It is 86 meters long and 30 meters wide, and an 18-meter-high steel structural platform contains three 10,000-cubic-meter soft cages, allowing the platform to farm around 600,000 kilograms of ocean fish annually.

The structure, which has a draft of 10 meters, is equipped with intelligent fish breeding systems, including automatic feeding and water quality monitoring.

It will be put into operation at the Longqi Bay National Modern Intelligent Marine Ranch in Ledong county in southwestern Hainan and will be the first intelligent aquaculture and tourism platform in the province, which is a major free-trade port in South China.

Zhou Xuhui, vice-president and senior engineer at GSI, said that the platform will help build a "marine granary" in Hainan and contribute to the development of the country's ocean economy.

Liao Feiting, a project manager at GSI, said the structure has been equipped with photovoltaic power generation equipment and is both green and environmentally friendly as it is powered by clean energy.

The structure can lower itself into the water by adjusting its ballast, he said.

"It has a generation and storage capacity of 100 kilowatts, making it energy self-sufficient. Also, it can survive typhoons, storms and other extreme ocean weather through four corner anchoring," Liao said.

The platform has been equipped with seawater desalination and sewage treatment plants, storage space, restaurants and other facilities, making it a modern marine industrial integration center that integrates green intelligent equipment, aquaculture, fishing, sightseeing and tourism, he added.

Insiders have said that with the strong national promotion of green development, China's fisheries will gradually switch from basic, intensive fishing to a focus on raising fish and on combining raising and catching.

Sources with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs have said that 120 national marine pasture demonstration areas will be created in Chinese coastal waters by 2025. To this end, the GSI has increased investment in research and development in aquaculture in recent years.

In a statement, the company said that it has entered into strategic cooperation with the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhanjiang) and other research institutions to build marine breeding equipment and engage in projects to help transform and upgrade the national fishing industry, and boost the development of marine resources and the marine economy.