Raoping County, on the eastern edge of Guangdong Province, holds just 0.13 percent of the province's maritime area. Yet it now produces 4 percent of Guangdong's mariculture output, a shift driven by a sweeping overhaul of its offshore fish farming industry.
In 2025, Chaozhou's total marine fishery output reached 4.8 billion yuan, up 7.9 percent year on year. The proportion of nearshore waters rated excellent in quality rose from 58.6 percent in 2022 to 97.7 percent, a record high. Chinese white dolphins, regarded as a barometer of marine health, have been spotted with increasing frequency.
The turnaround began in 2024, when local authorities launched a program to tear down traditional wooden fish rafts and replace them with new plastic cage systems. To date, over 34,000 wooden fish-cage units have been removed, clearing over 400 hectares of nearshore water and cutting inshore farming density by 40 percent.
A demonstration zone in Zhelin Bay now holds more than 20,000 of the new plastic cages. According to official data, output and value per cage have climbed 25 percent and 33.3 percent, respectively, compared with the old wooden rafts. The area now runs 659 gravity-type deep-water cages and 247 raft-frame units.
"Safety is higher, maintenance is simpler, output is stable, and returns improve year by year," said Zeng Zhenwu, who operates over 1,000 small plastic cages and more than 40 deep-water circular cages.
Local authorities have adopted a three-track model: state-owned platforms build new cages for rent, farmers invest in their own new equipment, and workers retrofit traditional cages to meet environmental standards.
The county is also advancing research on all-male breeding of blackspotted croaker, which could boost industry output by 30 percent if successful, while a rabbitfish breeding project has already produced about 1.52 million fry measuring over 3 centimeters in length.
Author | Feng Huiting
Photos | Nanfang Plus
