Comparative Economics Of Offshore And Traditional Cage Mariculture

This article describes the comparative production cost of and monetary returns for the offshore and traditional cage fish mariculture, based on the related science documents and the data coming from the investigation in Xuejiadao township, which is one of the largest fish mariculture bases in North China The study concludes that currently the production cost of offshore-cage-culture is higher than that of traditional-cage-culture; because there is more fixed cost when people take the former way. Offshore-cage-culture has fewer advantages than traditional-cage-culture in the economic parameters such as balance point production and manage safety rate, except labor productivity. There are three reasons: (1) The economy from the raising labor productivity cannot offset the increasing of fixed cost when the offshore cage is applied, for the labor price is very low in rural district of China at present (2) Currently, the production scales of offshore-cage-culture units in China are too small to get to the economic production scale. (3) Though the fixed cost of traditional-cage-culture is higher than that of offshore-cage-culture because of its being located in bay and shallow sea, but now the ruleless culture tremendously raising its managerial risk of fish infectious disease. So that traditional-cage-culture has much more underground managerial cost As far as the fish mariculture developing history in the world is concerned, the paper points out that it is the temporary phenomenon that offshore-cage-culture has higher production cost With the development of Chinese economy, the production cost advantage of offshore fish culture will emerge gradually. Several reasons are responsible: (1) In the long term, labor price in China will rise and production cost advantage of offshore-cage-culture will emerge. (2) With the development of offshore-cage- culture enterprises, their production cost will decrease gradually because of economics of scale and learning effect (3) The related laws and regulations will be improved, and self-discipline will be formed, which will improve the applying conditions of offshore-cage. (4) If the risk from typhoon and fish infections is taken into accounted, the production cost advantage of offshore-cage-culture has been emerging. In a word, it is an inevitable trend that offshore-cage-culture will develop rapidly, and offshore culture will be the direction offish mariculture in China In addition, the article points out that the laggard and small-scale management pattern is the source of the high production cost of offshore fish culture. To keep fish mariculture industry developing healthily, the government of our country should study the advanced experiences of foreign countries, establish rational development policy, and help fish mariculture industry establish the modem enterprise system.