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Dalian will boost trepang industry

By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-06-06 10:54

DALIAN: Dalian will host a month-long trepang cultural promotion event this autumn, according to the 6th Dalian International Fisheries and Seafood Process Expo, which opened Thursday in the coastal city of Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Called the "2008 Dalian Trepang Culture Month" and running from October 18 to November 18, the event is expected to boost the market influence of Dalian's trepang and has the theme "inheriting the trepang culture and molding a brand."

Dalian is a major production area in China for trepang, a kind of precious seafood which is high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol.

"The city's trepang output reached 25,000 tons last year, accounting for nearly 50 percent of China's total output," said Xu Zhikuan, chairman of the Dalian Marine Fisheries Association.

Fishery is one of Dalian's traditional industries. In 2007, it yielded 2.2 million tons of fishery products, an output value of 18.6 billion yuan ($2.68 billion).

Currently, there are 280,000 hectares of high-quality aquicultural area, including 66,700 hectares for trepang in Dalian.

Four local leading fishery companies, including Dalian Yiqiao Marine Seeds Co Ltd and Dalian Bangchuidao Marine Product Enterprise Group, signed at the Expo a strategic alliance agreement with the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, China's most authoritative scientific institute in fisheries science. Meanwhile, four pilot test bases were officially launched.

"The rising technical awareness of the companies leads to the cooperation between them and the scientific institutes. Industry here is bound to boom," said Liu Xicai, Director of the Dalian Oceanic and Fishery Administration.