A liquid checkerboard of sea-cucumber pens shares the industrial harbor of Yantai in China’s Shandong Province, where the local shipyard built the country’s first offshore oil rigs in 1977. The tremendous growth of China’s aquaculture sector competes for clean water and space with the nation’s rapid industrial and urban development, with everyone suffering from the ensuing water pollution. Sea cucumbers—spiny bottom-feeders kin to sea stars and urchins—are considered
a delicacy in China, and need clean, oxygenated water to thrive. Since they are filter-feeders, they can actually help clean water and waste from fish farms, but they can’t tackle industrial waste. Recent efforts have focused on the sea ranching of sea cucumbers: rearing juveniles in hatcheries and releasing them into natural habitats.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20160624_14544.TIF
- Copyright
- ©2016 George Steinmetz
- Image Size
- 4600x3448 / 45.5MB
- www.GeorgeSteinmetz.com
- Contained in galleries