Another species Suitable for Industrial High Density Circulating Water Culture!

    Black crap, grass carp, crucian carp, common carp, silver carp, largemouth bass, etc. as common fish species in freshwater aquaculture, have been well known by the majority of consumers, and these species mainly occupy the low-end market of freshwater aquaculture. In recent years, with the success of the fully artificial breeding of Murray cod and the smooth development of factory aquaculture, to a certain extent, this fish has filled the vacancy of the high-end market of freshwater aquaculture. However, the majority of farmers and consumers are still relatively unfamiliar with murray cod, for this reason, Fisheries Advance interviewed Liu Ming, general manager of Qingdao Qicai Seed Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qicai"), and asked him to introduce this "national treasure fish" breeding and market conditions for us.

Fisheries Advance: Hello Mr. Liu! Please introduce the current construction and breeding situation of Qingdao Qicai Seed Technology Co., Ltd.

Liu Ming: Qingdao Qicai Seed Technology Co., Ltd. is an innovative high-tech enterprise founded by a scientific research team from Ocean University of China. Qicai operates the entire industry chain of land-based recirculating aquaculture system fisheries, including research and development, breeding, processing, sales, and services.Until now, Qicai has built Laixi colorful agriculture, fishing and light integrated intelligent agriculture demonstration park. The Laixi Park covers an area of 10 hectares, including aquaculture seed industry center, aquaculture demonstration center, water and fertilizer integrated greenhouse, etc. The Laixi Park is mainly served for breeding of Murray cod, Mandarin fish and Salmon. In addition, the whole industry chain construction project of Murray cod in Jianhe County has been carried out, including the breeding, culture, exhibit and storage of Murray cod.

Qicai has more than 7,000 parental fish of murray cod aged 8-12 years, and the annual breeding capacity can reach more than 10 million under the current conditions. At present, the domestic culture of murray cod is still in the development stage, with an annual output of about 500 tons.

Fisheries Advance: Murray cod is a minority species in the aquaculture industry, please tell us about this fish.

Liu Ming: Murray cod is a kind of spindle shaped fish, whose back is yellow black or dark green while the belly color is light yellow white, and there are beautiful patterns on both sides of the fish body. It belongs to the warm-water fish and the suitable temperature range is 7℃ ~35℃. In natural waters, it often roosts in the shade of submerged wood or water grass, most active at night in summer. What’s more, murray cod is the biggest freshwater fish in Australia, adult individuals can reach 80-100 cm. In natural waters, individuals up to 1.8 m and weighing up to 113 kg have been ever found. It can live for hundreds of years. Murray cod has a high salinity tolerance and can be cultured in brackish water.

The meat of murray cod is firm, white, delicate, delicious, taste teeth, no muscle thorn, no fishy taste, rich in unsaturated fatty acids, and has a light unique flavor, nutritional and economic value is very high, known as "national treasure fish" in Australia.

Fisheries Advance: What are the benefits of culturing Murray Cod?

Liu Ming: Murray cod is a fish species for the middle and high-end market. The commercial fish sold by Qicai is 1.5-2.5 kg/bar, which generally needs to be cultured for one and a half to two years. The product form is whole chilled and segmentation processing. The market price is relatively high, and most murray cods are supplied to catering and supermarket. China has the world's largest freshwater fish consumption market, high-end freshwater fish market potential is huge. At present, in addition to the sale of the marketable fish, Qicai also cultivates the murray cod fry for sale, whose the length of the fry in the range of 5-10 cm.

Fisheries Advance: It is reported that a pair of parental fish of murray cod weighing less than 20 kilograms will cost 150,000 yuan. How does Qicai breed this breed?

Liu Ming: Qicai has established long-term and stable industry-university-research cooperation with Ocean University of China, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other scientific research institutions. Since 2011, we has repeatedly introduced a total of more than 5 million murray cod fry from Australia, and carried out in-depth research on industrial circulating aquaculture technology and artificial breeding technology of murray cod. In the process of breeding, the introduced fish fry was selected through character breeding, and the fish with fast growth, good body size and tolerance to high density was selected as the parental fish. In the process of parental cultivation, the best of the best was selected and the first generation of broodstocks of Qicai was finally formed. In 2019, the large-scale artificial breeding technology of murray cod was successfully achieved for the first time, which truly achieved a major breakthrough in the artificial breeding technology of murray cod and realized the domestic replacement of murray cod fry. At the same time, our team is also deeply engaged in the research and development and application of industrial circulating water culture technology, in order to provide the most safe and high-quality breeding environment for murray cod.

Fisheries Advance: Qicai has now realized the whole process from fry cultivation to breeding, so what are the future layout of fry cultivation and breeding?

Liu Ming: We plan to continue to expand the production of murray cod fry and commercial fish. At present, we have mastered the artificial breeding technology of murray cod and the industrial circulating water culture technology, and the technology of both fry breeding and adult fish breeding is very mature, which can achieve large-scale production. We are going to expand the annual production of commercial fish to 1 million kilograms in the next five years, and the annual production of large size fish fry of SPF grade to 5 million.

Qicai also hopes to introduce more people to industrial recirculating aquaculture through murray cod. Murray cod is very suitable for high density industrial recirculating water culture, unlike other species, the low density in murray cod culture will cause a "turf war" phenomenon. At present, the maximum breeding density of Qicai seed industry can reach 320 kg/m³. It has been proved that the more reasonable breeding density is 150 kg/m³ under the premise of not affecting growth and body size.

Fisheries Advance: Why do you want to obtain BAP certification? How does this move Qicai forward?

Liu Ming: BAP, which stands for Best Aquaculture Practices, was founded by GSA (Global Aquaculture Alliance) and is the world's most widely recognized third-party international certification. Adhere to practical, scientific and continuously improving standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain (including culturing, breeding, processing and feeding) to ensure that consumers are provided with environmentally and socially responsible healthy aquatic products.

Qicai attaches great importance to food safety, which is the most concerned problem of the majority of consumers, we hope to bring safe, green and high-quality products to consumers. Therefore, we passed through the BAP certification, affirming our achievements in self-breeding and self-cultivation of murray cod and giving consumers confidence to buy or eat murray cod and its processed products. In the future, we will adhere to the principles of food safety and bring safe and delicious murray cod and related products to consumers.