Fishery development gets fund support

The top 50 enterprises with transactions at the Shenzhen International Tuna Transaction Center reaching 10 million yuan (US$1.44 million) annually will each receive a subsidy equivalent to 1% of the total sales, capped at 1 million yuan.

Oceanic fishing enterprises that have operated in Shenzhen for over two years, or new enterprises with registered capital exceeding 50 million yuan, will receive subsidies amounting to 5 million yuan if their vessel capacity is above 8,000 tons or 3 million yuan for a capacity above 5,000 tons.

The Shenzhen International Tuna Transaction Center was inaugurated at a ceremony yesterday. Sun Yuchen

These are two examples of fund support out of the 27 incentives released at the Shenzhen Fishery Business Promotion Conference, one of the highlights of the Shenzhen International Fisheries & Seafood Expo 2023 scheduled to open today.

“The fund support will guide the traditional fishery industry to modernize, with their chain covering cold-chain logistics, deep and refined processing, trade and exhibitions, and sightseeing,” Wu Xuan, an official from the Fishery Administration Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, said at an interview yesterday.

The incentives encourage fishery production and support scientific innovation in aquatic breeding, intelligent farming and application of new-generation technologies.

A worker adds final touches inside the booth of the Shenzhen International Fisheries and Seafood Expo 2023, which opens today at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District. Sun Yuchen

The city aims to create an innovation ecological chain in the fishery industry that combines basic research, technological innovations and industrialization of scientific achievements, according to Wu.

The Shenzhen International Tuna Transaction Center, which was officially established yesterday, will be officially put into operation before the end of the year when facilities in Dachan Bay are ready. It is a high-tech-based transaction and settlement center for global aquatic product businesses. An online auction organized by the center will be held during the expo, which runs until Saturday.

“Through the construction of the national oceanic fishing base and international tuna transaction center and supportive policies, we hope that Shenzhen will become a collection and distribution center for international aquatic products. In the long-term plan, we expect the tuna center’s transactions to reach 100 billion yuan, and to form our regional price index and the power to decide prices,” Wu said.

Liu Yongzhong, head of the Shenzhen Cuisine Association, said the tuna center’s establishment will help reduce logistics costs and enable residents to purchase high-quality seafood at more reasonable prices, benefiting the development of the city’s catering industry.