A Study Of Sustainable Development Of Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry Of China

The Sturgeons,which are all in the appendices of "the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora"(CITES),are the existent most primordial teleostean fishes on the globe.At the beginning of 1990s,the Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry of China still remained blank except resources investigations and researches on artificial multiplication.But only ten years since then,there has been a great development of Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry in China by right of researches and exploiture of Sturgeons in the Amur River,introduction of good Sturgeon species and aquaculture technologies from abroad and popularizing of Sturgeon Aquaculture technologies.China is now the biggest Sturgeon Aquaculture production country in the world.According to the theory of sustainable development,the Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry must harmonize with the zoology,environment and human society to develop healthily,stably and sustainably.However,there are currently many problems with the Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry of China.Some aspects are very similar with the un-sustained Prawn Aquaculture Industry and Turbot Aquaculture Industry which grew with a rush and declined suddenly. Hence there is a need to study the countermeasures to prevent from following the same disastrous road.After reviewing the history of Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry of China,the author reports a latest survey of the commercial Sturgeon farms and Sturgeon fry nurseries located in the 11 top important Sturgeon Aquaculture provinces in China in July and August of 2007,as well as a survey of some important domestic fish wholesale markets.Analyzing the figures of the surveys and comparing with the statistical figures from the Bureau of Fisheries,Ministry of Agriculture,the author describes the current situation on 9 aspects as commercial Sturgeon production,Sturgeon fry production,species,technology,manner,feed,production zones, industry structure mode,as well as marketing and trading.The author then brings forward the major problems on 8 aspects:1.Unself-sufficient domestic production of Sturgeon fry,lack of original breeding stocks farms and well-bred breeding stocks farms,disordered hybridization,potential threat of genetic pollution to the aboriginal Sturgeons in the Yangtze River from the exotic species;2.Diseases originated from environmental pollution and poor quality fish feed utilized;3.Potential threat to the public food safety by the fish medicine residual;4.Heavy pollution of the Aquaculture environment and water;5.Too small consumption size of Sturgeon and slow progress of Sturgeon processing industry;6.The restriction of domestic market by the single consumption way of live and fresh Sturgeon and very small amount of export;7.The current existed industry structure mode of"corporation+individual farmer" does not satisfy the current requirement of public food safety and will not satisfy the intending requirement of CITES for export;8.Lack of effective support from the government,lack of the guild,dated rules of law and powerless management of protection of the Sturgeons natural resources in the Amur River.The author suggests countermeasures on 8 aspects as:1.To set up the scientific viewpoint of development and enhance the public understanding of sustainable development.2.The government should take effective measures to perfect the macro management of the Sturgeon Industry.The author suggests for the first time a regulation of "Minimum Consumption Size Limitation Based on Different Species" which allows the hybrid Sturgeon to be sold smaller than 1.5kg for consumption whereas the pure species are not allowed.This will either satisfy the requirement of traditional live and fresh Sturgeon consumption of the domestic market or will encourage the corporations to raise bigger Sturgeons for processing and export.3.As all Sturgeons are endangered animals controlled by CITES,the author suggests for the first time a system of"Different Labeling Based on Domestic Sales and Export".This asks to label the Sturgeons aiming for export with Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) which is more expensive but well accepted by CITES.As for the Sturgeons farmed for domestic sales, easy and cheaper labeling manners should be used to meet the request by the Seafood Traceability System which will be implemented soon in China.4.The author brings out for the first time the sustainable industry structure mode of Sturgeon Industry as "Sturgeon Guild+Corporations+Sturgeon Farmers' Professional Co-operatives +Sturgeon Farmers" and its four mechanisms based on domestic sales and exports.The author also describes the role of each part of the mode.5.To innovate the system of science and technology and to upgrade the Sturgeon industry.6.To promote the development of Sturgeon processing sectors,to perfect the marketing system and to enlarge the consumption market.7.To heighten the Sturgeon Aquaculture level,to set up original breeding stocks farms and well-bred breeding stocks farms,to raise Sturgeons by making rational use of all resources, and to improve the prevention and cure of fish diseases.8.To improve both the protection and utilization of national natural Sturgeon resources.