Feel the stones to cross the river and cultivate sea cucumbers in Binzhou, Shandong Province.

Liu Baohua: the pioneer of folk mariculture

"our farmed sea cucumbers will be out of the pool around the National Day this year. It can be said that this is the first large-scale listing of our own sea cucumbers raised in Binzhou." When he said this, Liu Baohua was a little proud.

As a witness to the development of mariculture in Wudi County, 45-year-old Liu Baohua has grown from being a self-employed shrimp farmer to vice chairman of Haicheng Enterprise Group with total assets of more than 100 million, and his main energy is still focused on mariculture.

Wudi County is close to the Bohai Sea, and coastal villagers have a long history of using seawater for aquaculture. As early as the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, some people built ponds around rivers and shoals and used artificial seedlings to cultivate clams, clams and clams. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, coastal fishermen rely on the natural environment, make use of salt storage tanks and tidal ditches, adopt the artificial way of receiving seedlings, and cultivate clams, barracuda, sea bass, swimming crabs, hairy clams and so on, but the culture benefit is not good.

The scale of mariculture in Wudi County really took shape after 1985, when the main species of mariculture was Penaeus chinensis. Speaking of the initial mariculture, Liu Baohua said it was actually very accidental. In 1987, Liu Baohua and his brother bought several bulldozers to solicit projects everywhere. At that time, many northeastern people contracted to raise shrimp on the beach in Chengkou town, and Liu Baohua was mainly responsible for pushing shrimp ponds for them. After doing it for a period of time, Liu Baohua found that shrimp farming was very profitable and did not require much technology. after discussion, Liu Baohua and his brother contracted the beach and pushed the shrimp ponds together, so the two brothers became the first batch of large-scale seafood farmers in Wudi County.

"at the beginning, I raised Penaeus chinensis. At that time, it was really easy to do. There was no disease, no technology was needed, the market was quite good, and it was easy to make money." Liu Baohua said. The good times did not last long. Around 1992, viral shrimp disease broke out in a large area of the country, and farmers in Wudi County, including Liu Baohua, were not spared and suffered heavy losses.

Learning from the bitter lesson, due to the poor disease resistance and difficult transportation of Penaeus chinensis, Liu Baohua decided to change the breed. Since then, he has set a number of "firsts" in the local mariculture industry. He was the first to introduce Japanese shrimp with strong disease resistance in the area. After three years of successful breeding, Liu Baohua was also prepared to try to raise a new variety because of the disaster. In 1997, Liu Baohua was the first to introduce Penaeus vannamei with stronger disease resistance, high temperature tolerance, salt tolerance and strong adaptability to water quality and successfully cultured it. The first time I sold South American white prawns in the markets of Jinan and Tianjin, "it was not recognized at all in the market at that time, because what people saw at that time were usually dead shrimp, and fresh sea shrimp had never been seen before. for the first time, I brought 70 jin of South American white prawns to the Jinan market to sell them. It took me a whole day to sell out." Liu Baohua said, "with the promotion of Penaeus vannamei across the country, the market has gradually begun to recognize it." Until now, Penaeus vannamei is still the main species of marine shrimp in the country, and is far ahead of other species. "

This autumn, sea cucumbers from Binzhou will be listed for the first time.

Liu Baohua is not an easy person to satisfy. While raising shrimp, he also actively develops a variety of aquaculture. "in addition to raising shrimp, the first thing I try is crab culture. I have been raising and breeding three-wart swimming crab since the mid-1990s. I'm still doing it now." Liu Baohua said.

Haicheng Group experimented with the cultivation of sea cucumbers and also took the lead in Wudi County. In 2007, Haicheng Group invested 100 mu of sea cucumber culture ponds, all of which survived. That trial cultivation was to cross the river completely by feeling the stones. There was no technology, no information, and no management. Haicheng's output of sea cucumbers was small, and the benefit was not good. Because the sea cucumbers were not fished out in time after the sea cucumbers grew up, and caught up with the hot weather, most of these sea cucumbers eventually died in the pool.

Although there is no benefit, the experience of surviving aquaculture has given Liu Baohua enough confidence that sea cucumbers can also be raised in the waters of Binzhou. "Shandong and its surrounding provinces and cities have successful sea cucumber farming experience, mainly in Dalian, Liaoning and our Shandong Jiaodong region, the technology is in their hands, and the technology is still relatively secret, after all, their experience is also acquired through failure and loss." Liu Baohua said.

Since 2010, Liu Baohua and his company have entered the sea cucumber breeding industry for the second time. This time he cooperated with a company in Jiaodong and adopted each other's technology and practices. "the cultivation of sea cucumbers has high requirements for objective conditions. There are standards for the clarity, salinity and temperature of sea water. If the standards are not met, the culture will not be successful." Liu Baohua said, "Sea cucumbers are attached and growing organisms, so no matter they are raising seedlings or raising them, they all need to build reefs and create an environment to adapt to them." After that, salinity control and temperature regulation also determine whether breeding is successful or not. "

At present, Haicheng sea cucumber seedlings have been successful, ginseng seedlings are also best-selling in the surrounding areas, the largest pond has more than three or two weights, and will be on the market this autumn.

In addition to sea cucumbers, smooth tongue sole, a valuable farmed fish species in Haicheng, has also been successfully bred and is expected to be listed next year, and the factory culture of turbot is also under planning and design. "from the initial shrimp culture to the current sea treasure culture, our pace is synchronized with Wudi mariculture." Liu Baohua said.