Last week, the world’s first full-scale smart fish farm ship, “Guoxin 1”, began sea trials from the port in Qingdao city of Shandong province, China.
The vessel, which is 250 metres long and 45 metres wide, has a draft of 12m, and a deadweight of about 100,000 tonnes, a displacement of 130,000 tonnes – making the ship more than twice the size of the “Titanic”.
Built by state-owned investment company Qingdao Conson Development Group, “Guoxin 1” has 15 aquaculture tanks with a total volume of 80,000 cubic metres and has the capacity to produce 4,000 tonnes of fish.
The company plans to test the cultivation of local fish species yellow croaker, as well as Atlantic salmon, aboard the vessel.
The ship, which is expected to enter service in April, is equipped with underwater cameras, sensors and automatic feeding facilities, along with a water exchange system and a deep-water intake device. The vessel is designed to travel at a speed of up to 10 knots, giving it the ability to avoid hazards such as typhoons and red tides.
Construction of the farm ship was a joint project between Qingdao Conson, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), and the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.
The company’s long-term ambition is to build an open sea aquaculture fleet of 50 ships with an annual output of more than 200,000 tonnes of fish by 2035.
Read more: China is building an armada of fish farm vessels. Now the first ship has been launched
