Squid Angling Equipment Has to Break New Ground

Wang Jin

The 30th Anniversary Summary Meeting of China's Ocean-Going Squid Angling Development was held on October 10 in Zhoushan， Zhejiang Province. Ocean-going squid angling is an important part of ocean fishery in China and one of the pillar industries of oceanic fishery. As an important support for the sustainable development of pelagic squid angling industry， what is the present situation and future development trend of squid angling equipment? He Bo， chairman of the National Fishing Equipment Science and Technology Innovation Alliance and chairman of JESSN Marine Equipment Co.， Ltd.，made an analysis.

Squid Angling Fishing Vessels Outnumber 615

Oceanic squids account for 5% of the total output of ocean-going fisheries in the world， and has been identified by the FAO as "one of the three marine fishery species with the most sustainable development potential"， so it has been developed by countries all over the world.In 1989， the Puling training ship of Shanghai Ocean University appointed to the Sea of Japan and the Russian sea area successfully caught squids， thus realizing the breakthrough of "zero" in China's ocean-going squid angling fishing industry.

According to He Bo， by the end of 2018， the number of squid angling fishing vessels in China had reached 615， with a cumulative squid catch of 7 million tons and an output value of nearly 100 billion yuan， accounting for about 5% of China's marine fishing output value. Nowadays，ocean-going squid angling has become one of the pillar industries of oceangoing fisheries in China.

At present， the countries and regions carrying out pelagic fisheries are mainly concentrated in Asia， represented by the Chinese mainland and Taiwan region， South Korea and Japan. Among them， the ship type of Japan and Korea is large， the ship length is 70-90m， the loading capacity is 800-1200 tons， the daily freezing capacity is 70-90 tons，main equipment are automatic squid angling machine， above-water fishgathering lamp system， underwater fishgathering lamp system and the like， all provided with advanced communication，navigation and fishing assisted system.

Chinese mainland and Taiwan mainly use 60m-plus and 70m-plus professional steel squid angling fishing vessel. Depending on fishing seasons，they can also be used as a saury fishing vessels. Main fishing gear is automatic squid angling machine， above-water fish-gathering lamp system， underwater fish-gathering lamp system， fish detection sonar， and the like， and some are equipped with side rollers， special winch， saury fish-gathering lamp system，fish pump， fish and water separating device， grading machine among complete set of saury fishing gear.

Squid Angling Equipment Turns Local

China's ocean-going squid angling fishing vessels have experienced the development process of starting from scratch， from refitting and double purpose to professional squid angling， from small to large， with squid angling equipment having evolved from total reliance on import to localization. He Bo said most of the early ocean-going squid angling fishing vessels in China were converted from 8154 trawlers built before 1988，while the rest were converted from tuna jiggers built in the mid-1990s or purchased from South Korea and Japan.

With the strong support of the national pelagic fishery policy， a large number of new professional squid angling fishing vessels have been built and put into production since the 12th Five-Year Plan， and the independent design and construction ability of squid angling fishing vessels in China has also been significantly improved. At present， the total length of professional squid angling fishing vessels is 60-80m， the loading capacity is 500-700 tons， the daily freezing capacity is 30-48 tons， and the maximum daily quick freezing capacity of professional squid angling fishing vessels in Argentine fishing grounds is more than 100 tons.

In the aspect of equipment supply，ocean-going squid angling deck outfit and complete saury fishing equipment are all made in China. In addition， the underwater fish-gathering lamp control system， sea anchor and sea anchor float ball have basically realized localization.The most important fishing gear product of ocean-going squid angling is squid hook (mechanical hook). After the development by JESSN Marine in collaboration with relevant universities and research institutions， the domestic fishing hook has completely replaced the import. Squid angling nylon line and root line are all made in China， and only some fine angling lines need to be imported from South Korea.

The squid angling machine is the most important production tool in the squid angling fishing industry. In the early 1970s， Chinese aquatic product colleges made imitation studies on the Japanese products， and the fishery enterprises and the electromechanical enterprises conducted development the research， but their products were not accepted by the market due to poor stability among other factors. At present，a new generation of squid angling machine jointly developed by JESSN Marine and relevant research institutes and colleges and universities has entered the real ship test phase.

However， the localization of squid angling equipment still faces a number of short-board problems. He noted that，in the fish-gathering lamp system， the domestic brand of the metal halide lamp only occupies the small amount market of small-power products， the underwater discharge bulb， the underwater discharge lamp， the underwater lamp cable all rely on the import. Moreover，the fish detection sonar system and the searchlight all need to be imported from Japan， and the communication and navigation system equipment are also basically imported from Japan.

Three major trends in the future

With respect to the development trend of ocean-going squid angling equipment in China， He Bo said amidst the changing environment and market，we should open up ideas and develop new growth sectors. The focus is to advance the development of the offshore squid angling fishing vessels， develop the offshore squid angling industry， and realize fresh squid market supply and sustainable development of offshore squid fishing.

It is reported that Japan is the country with the longest history of pelagic squid angling -- hundreds of years. At present， Japan has gradually withdrawn from the pelagic squid angling fishing market. However， there are still a large number of small offshore squid angling fishing vessels in Japan and South Korea.China squid angling fishing has expanded from a single fishing ground in the Sea of Japan to three oceans and four major seas， but the effective fishing grounds are not sufficiently wide， squid angling fishing vessels are over-concentrated，the output is decreasing day by day，and the hidden dangers of safety are becoming increasingly prominent. Under the industrial trend of further expanding the domestic squid market， it is necessary to promote the development of offshore squid angling fishing according to the concept of sustainable development.

Secondly， through the automation and intelligent transformation of the existing ocean-going squid angling fishing vessels， it is an urgent need for the development of ocean-going squid fishing equipment at the next step to reduce personnel investment and improve production efficiency.

With the completion and commissioning of new ocean-going squid angling fishing ships， the contradiction of "more ships and fewer crew" in squid angling fishing industry is particularly prominent， which leads to the shortage of labor force and the rise of employment costs， the decline of crew business skills， and the vicious competition among enterprises. The shortage of crew has become the main bottleneck of the development of ocean-going fishery enterprises. Automatic processing line，automatic freezing plate， self-lift， automatic frozen fish block dumping machine and other automation and intelligent equipment will effectively replace part of the manual operation， and promote the sustainable and healthy development of squid angling fishing industry.

In addition， squid angling fishing equipment will also accelerate the development towards green， energy-saving，environmental protection operations.For example， in terms of light trapping，traditional lamp bulbs will gradually be replaced by LED fish lamps. The continuous improvement of pollution prevention requirements for fishing vessels at home and abroad will have a direct impact on the technical development of squid angling fishing vessels.