China’s First Batch of Borderless Kelp Settles in Fuzhou
China’s First Batch of Borderless Kelp Settles in Fuzhou
Increased Yield and Significant Production Growth
On May 18, experts from the Fujian Fisheries Technology Promotion Station and other organizations confirmed the successful trial cultivation of China’s first batch of borderless kelp in Lianjiang.
Trial-Cultivated Borderless Kelp.
On the morning of May 18, an expert team from the Fujian Fisheries Technology Promotion Station, the Fisheries Research Institute of Fujian, the Fujian Ocean Vocational and Technical College, and the Fuzhou Marine and Fisheries Technology Center visited Guanwu Village in Xiaocheng Town, Lianjiang County. They conducted yield measurements and biological assessments on borderless kelp, randomly selected from the waters of the Huangqi Bay, and compared them with those of ordinary kelp grown under the same conditions.
“By measuring indicators such as length, width, thickness, and fresh weight, we found that the product yield of borderless kelp can exceed 85%, whereas conventional kelp, which has more pronounced edges and wrinkles, yields only around 55%,” said Associate Researcher Zhong Chenhui from the Fisheries Research Institute of Fujian. Based on the expert team’s yield assessments, borderless kelp outperforms commonly farmed kelp in terms of production. This marks the successful trial cultivation of borderless kelp in Lianjiang and its official introduction to Fuzhou.
Borderless kelp doesn’t mean it has no edges; rather, it refers to kelp that generates far fewer trimmings. Traditionally, around 40% of kelp would be wasted as trimmings during processing, leading to a significant loss of labor, materials, and resources. In contrast, borderless kelp features a wider midsection, less noticeable wrinkling along the edges, longer stalks, and thicker leaves. This results in a higher overall utilization rate of 85% to 90%, making it an ideal raw material for high-quality kelp processing.
In October last year, the Fujian Fisheries Technology Promotion Station, the Fisheries Research Institute of Fujian, and Lianjiang Guanwu Marine Products Development Co., Ltd. joined forces to introduce a new seedling cultivation technique involving the “selection of mother kelp and gamete hybridization.” This led to the cultivation of the country’s first batch of borderless kelp seedlings, which were then deployed for hanging cultivation in the waters of the Huangqi Bay.
Lin Zhelong, Chairman of Lianjiang Guanwu Marine Products Development Co., Ltd., stated that borderless kelp has been officially recognized as an aquaculture breeding variety by the Fujian Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries and will soon be submitted for national recognition as a new variety.
“This year, Lianjiang County plans to cultivate 50,000 borderless kelp seedlings, which will be deployed for demonstration farming in Fujian, Shandong, Liaoning, and other provinces, with 30,000 of them to be farmed in Fujian,” said Lin Yinghui, Level 2 Principal Staff Member at the Lianjiang Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries. (Fuzhou Evening News Reporter: Zheng Ruiyang; Correspondent: Lian Rongmei, Text/Photo)