National Prize For Progress In Science And Technology

At the conference, second prizes were awarded to two institutes under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS) for the achievements made in their respective research programmes, namely the Development and Application of Techniques for Large-scale Seed Fry Breeding and Healthy Cultivation of Cynoglossus semilaeis Gunther the CAFS Yellow Sea Institute and the Development and Application of Key Techniques for Ocean Tuna Resources by the CAFS East Sea Institute. All together, CAFS had nine research achievements that were honored national-level rewards in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period.
The first prize-winning programme has carried out research into basic breeding theories about seawater fish including the development law of parent fish sex gland, developmental biology, breeding ecology, feeding habits and mechanism, digestion and nutrition physiology. This programme has researched thegermplasm and genetic features of Cynoglossus semilaeis Gunthe at cell, protein and DNA levels, cloned genes and molecular markers related to gender, and developed PCR technique for genetic gender identification. These efforts have laid a theoretical foundation for gender control and reproduction of its seed fries. Large-scale propagation systems of seed fries have been set up to ensure supply of seed fries for development of Cynoglossus semilaeis Gunther industry. Various raising models and techniques have been developed for high and stable production of a healthy cultivation. This research marks the realization of the large-scale breeding and healthy cultivation of Soleoidae in the country, bringing direct economic benefits of 4.3 billion yuan in the last three years and annual output value of 1.5 billion yuan.
The second prize-winning programme has made achievements in the following four aspects:

1. Establishment of the biological indicator system for tuna, and the models for three dimensional environmental features of different tuna fishing grounds, the analytical methods on resources variation law over time and space, and the distribution chart of tuna fishing grounds through field study and data collection on the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
   
2. A comprehensive management database established for ocean tuna fishery, the forecasting model for tuna fishing grounds based on the Bayesian theory, and an information service system for tuna fishing grounds with independent intellectual property right, with forecast accuracy rate up to 70 per cent.
   
3. An increase in hook catchrate of wild-eyed tuna longline fishing thanks to the build-up of the three dimensional model for hook depth and the development of eco-friendly and high-efficiency fishing hooks.
   
4. Techniques developed for acquisition and extraction of environmental information and features about tuna fishing grounds as well as for batch processing and automatic extraction of fishing ground feature indicators.

These techniques have been applied in 47 enterprises and 301 fishing vessels. As a result, a total catch of 372.8 thousands tons of tuna have been registered in the last three years with 9.91 billion yuan of output value and 1.74 billion yuan from increased income and reduced costs. These achievements have contributed to the successful development of seven tuna fishing grounds in three oceans, making China one of the leading tuna fishing countries, which is of a great strategic significance to the "walking out" strategy of China' fishery and to the safeguard of China' rights and interests in the high seas.