Farming seafood in the arid, rain-scarce desert, may sound unbelievable, but in Qiemo County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, located on the southeastern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, it has become a reality.

Farming base surrounded by desert

The Taklimakan Desert, known as the "Sea of Death," is surrounded by sand on all sides, and the inability to grow even a blade of grass is the impression it leaves on people. Now, a 25-mu (about 1.67 hectares) aquaculture base has quietly been established here for two years. What was once unimaginable—"farming seafood in the desert"—has now become a reality here.

At an aquaculture base in Tatirang Town, Qiemo County, surrounded by desert, there is one indoor eco-aquaculture greenhouse, two open-air fish ponds, and one breeding pool, where 230,000 marine fish have been cultivated. After a year and a half of careful rearing, these marine aquatic products have successfully adapted to the desert environment.

Due to the large temperature differences in the desert, the constant-temperature indoor greenhouse provides a suitable temperature for seafood farming. Here, 68 breeding tanks with a diameter of five meters are equipped with electric heating systems, creating a constant-temperature, comfortable "home" for the seafood.

Monthly manual fish sorting

Staff at the breeding base are conducting the monthly manual sorting of fish, with the lively tiger grouper as the main focus. In just three months, the fry can grow from the size of a fingernail to the size of a palm. Why sort the fish? Due to varying growth rates among the fry, it is easy for "big fish to eat small fish."

Sorting them into different pools not only avoids internal consumption but also allows for targeted feeding, helping the fry grow faster and stronger. The base's star varieties, such as gold tiger grouper, pearl grouper, and mullet, will be launched on the market one after another next month. They are not only served on the dining tables of people in Aksu of Xinjiang but are also sold to various parts of the country through land and air transport.

Salt-alkali water seawater restoration technology enables desert seafood farming

The biggest challenge in farming seafood in the desert is "water." The water used for farming here all comes from desert groundwater two meters underground, which is authentic "desert salt-alkali water."

Measurement data shows that the pH of the native salt-alkali water is as high as 9 to 9.5, but after technological treatment, the pH is precisely controlled within 8.6, almost the same as the natural water quality of the South China Sea. The secret to desert seafood farming lies in the "salt-alkali water seawater restoration" technology: the breeding base first undergoes a 45-day adjustment process, using desert salt-alkali water as the base and pairing it with specific microorganisms and bacterial communities to gradually restore a simulated seawater ecological environment.

In this 2,800-square-meter breeding area, only two technicians are needed. The entire process employs smart farming technology; with a mobile app or electronic operation screen, all processes such as drainage, feeding, and circulating water filtration can be completed with the push of a button. Wastewater containing fish feces is treated through a circulating system and can be reused, truly achieving an ecological farming model with zero emissions and full recycling.

Abundant harvests at the the desert's edge

What makes these seafood items grow plump? The answer lies in the pink-purple lights in the breeding greenhouse. Through repeated experiments, staff found that this type of lighting not only simulates the natural growing environment of seafood in the ocean and serves a disinfecting and sterilizing function, but its specific spectrum also promotes the growth of seafood, allowing the desert seafood to grow faster and plumper.

In Xinjiang, in addition to "artificial seawater," attempts are also being made to practice "seawater shrimp freshwater farming." Breeders use desalination ponds to allow seawater shrimp to gradually adapt to freshwater environments, successfully raising fresh fish, shrimp, and crabs on the Gobi sands.

The aquatic product map around the Taklimakan Desert shows that in Xinjiang's Alar City, on the edge of the desert, the farming area for aquatic products such as crayfish, green crabs, and tilapia has reached 91,700 mu (about 6,116 hectares); in Hetian County, on the southern edge of the desert, crabs, perch, and other varieties yield abundant harvests year after year. In the first half of this year alone, the total local aquatic product output exceeded 1,000 tons. According to statistics from the agricultural and rural departments, the aquatic product output in Xinjiang reached 192,500 tons last year, and aquaculture has become a prosperous industry in major fishing areas.

(Source: CCTV)