Yellow croaker 'savior' revives depleted stock

Out of poverty

You was one of the first farmers to reap the fruits of Liu's efforts. The oldest son of a rural family in Sandu Bay, he had to drop out of school at age 13 to support his family by selling popsicles in the sweltering sun.

"We could barely get by 30 years ago because the sea had run out of fish and there was very little arable land in our village," he said. "All we had to eat were slices of dried sweet potato."

In the early 1990s, he dug a pond in the village to raise eels. He was devastated in 1996 when all the eels swam away during a flood caused by typhoon rains, leaving him more than 3 million yuan in debt.

The desperate farmer turned to Liu for help when he heard that raising large yellow croakers had become a cash cow thanks to technological breakthroughs. Liu sent his best assistant to You's fish farm for a year to teach him every detail of the process.

In 1997, You began farming the fish. His business quickly picked up and he managed to pay off all his debts within a year.

Now, he is a leading figure in the large yellow croaker industry, owning three companies whose activities range from hatching fries to the breeding and processing of yellow croakers. The companies produce 8,500 tons of the fish every year.

Many farmers followed suit and the local government listed it as a pillar industry of the local economy, offering technical support for farmers and subsidies for downstream manufacturers.

After decades of development, Sandu Bay, once depleted of large yellow croakers, is one of the world's biggest aquafarming hubs, helping tens of thousands of people to shake off poverty.

Last year, overall production of large yellow croakers reached 164,000 tons in Ningde alone, accounting for about 83 percent of the country's total and creating over 300,000 jobs in fish farming and supporting industries.

In 2014, Liu retired from local aquaculture extension services at age 74, but he is as busy as ever, answering fish farmers' questions during training sessions or on the phone.

"I am always ready to answer questions about the techniques for farming large yellow croakers because I hope my research will benefit as many people as possible," he said.