Hainan to build super-sized fish farms

HAIKOU - China's southern-most island province of Hainan is to build three large fish farm cages, each as big as seven standard soccer fields.

The provincial government of Hainan Thursday signed an agreement with China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. on the deep sea fish farm equipment to be installed off the coast of Lingshui Li autonomous county in southern Hainan.

With a diameter of 110 meters and a depth of 75 meters, the fish farm platform will measure 250,000 cubic meters. Each cage can hold about 6,000 tonnes of fish, 500 to 600 times as much as standard deep water cages.

The deep water fish farming will not be affected by the busy ship traffic. The netted cages can also withstand huge waves triggered by winds with speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour, the two said.

The cages will have the highest level of automation in China as they will automatically provide feed and monitor the fish.