China's first homemade ship for shipping live fish made its debut voyage on Monday from the Houzhu port of Quanzhou city in east China's Fujian province to north China.
The ship, 63 meters long, 9.2 meters wide and 4.2 meters deep, is able to contain 30-60 tons of live fish at one time. It is also equipped with temperature control, water filtration and purification systems to ensure the transported fish would survive and not be disturbed by the outside water temperature, water quality and air temperatures.
Therefore, it is claimed that the survival rate of the transported live fish could reach over 99 percent.
Fujian province, located on the east China Sea, is the country's major aquatic product producer.
A source from the provincial fishery bureau said that the successful operation of the live fish transporting ship could help both freshwater and saltwater fish move in winter from southern China to the country's frozen north.
The source also noted that water transportation is much cheaper than the high cost of air-ferrying the fish.
(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2003)
