China unveils world’s first smart offshore aquaculture vessel
China on Thursday launched the world’s first self-propelled enclosed salmon aquaculture vessel in Guangzhou City, located in south China’s Guangdong Province.
Dubbed Suhai-1, the vessel is a smart offshore aquaculture equipment integrating breeding, harvesting and on-board processing of high-value fish species. It functions both as a mobile offshore fish farm and a modern fishery processing plant, News.Az reports citing CGTN.
Suhai-1 has a displacement of 132,000 tonnes, comparable to two medium-sized aircraft carriers. It features 15 aquaculture cabins with a total water volume of 83,000 cubic meters – equivalent to 33 international standard swimming pools.
The vessel is equipped with a centralized automated feeding system that manages feed storage, transportation, hoisting, unpacking, conveying and distribution, all guided by intelligent feeding decisions.
Unlike traditional stationary net-cage aquaculture in open seas, Suhai-1 can produce while cruising at a maximum speed of 18 kilometers per hour. This mobility allows it to relocate quickly to safer waters during adverse conditions like typhoons and red tides, greatly enhancing operational safety and stability.
Since deep-sea salmon prefer colder waters, Suhai-1 will navigate to the cold-water mass in the Yellow Sea once operations begin. This ensures salmon remain within their optimal growth temperature range of 10-18 degrees Celsius. In effect, the vessel "travels" with the fish to favorable environments, returning with full holds of mature salmon.
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