At 11 a.m. on June 26th, the outfitting dock of Jinghai Group's Yuantong Shipyard was filled with the sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums. The 12 stern-ramp trawler ocean fishing boats designed and built by the company set sail for the Atlantic fishing grounds to carry out fishing operations. As of now, Rongcheng has over 200 fishing boats operating in fishing grounds around the world.
That morning, the reporter saw at the dock that 12 ocean-going fishing boats, each over 50 meters long, were neatly lined up on the shore. The fishing boats were adorned with bright five-starred red flags, and all equipment was decorated in a new look. The crew members, wearing life jackets, were busy preparing for the departure of the fishing boats. Many employees and family members of the crew from Jinghai Group came here to see the crew off. Aunt Chang, 68 years old, told the reporter that she and her husband had come specially to see off their son, who served as the first mate on the boat. This trip would take at least a year, and the family was very reluctant to part with him. At 10:58, after the ceremony ended, the 12 fishing boats successively left the dock.
The 12 fishing boats that participated in this operation in the Atlantic Ocean have a single-boat power of 1960 kilowatts, a tonnage of 498 tons, and a length of 54.98 meters. They are part of the 40 offshore fishing boats that Jinghai Group obtained approval from the Ministry of Agriculture to build last year. Currently, the group has 32 offshore fishing boats heading to different fishing grounds for production. In recent years, facing the pressure of declining offshore fishery resources, Rongcheng City has regarded the development of offshore fishing as an important task for expanding the space for fishery development. It encourages enterprises to build new offshore fishing boats and add processing projects, and provides support in terms of policy funds, promoting the development of offshore fishing in the city. Currently, Rongcheng has 14 enterprises with the Ministry of Agriculture's offshore fishing qualification certification. The types of offshore fishing operations include trawling, squid fishing, tuna longline fishing, etc., with operation areas spread across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Especially since last year, due to the national increase in the subsidy ratio for offshore fishing boat construction to 30%, the number of offshore fishing boats in the city has expanded rapidly. This year, 26 offshore fishing boats from Lidao Marine Technology Co., Ltd. and various fishing enterprises of Jinghai Group have gone to fishing grounds around the world to "make money". In the second half of the year, more than 20 boats will continue to go to sea.
Since last year, Rongcheng has successfully secured a total investment of 2.7 billion yuan to renovate its existing offshore fishing vessels and simultaneously build some new ones. Leveraging its offshore fishing industry, Rongcheng currently has nearly 100 marine biology and food-related industrial projects under construction or planned, with an additional investment of over 30 billion yuan. Furthermore, with the commissioning of the newly built offshore fishing vessels, the demand for port facilities construction, fuel supply, and other related service industries that support the living and production of these vessels has doubled.
