Chinese mitten crabs in Keluke Lake

Chinese mitten crabs in Keluke Lake

　　At Keluke Lake, 42 kilometers from Delingha City, one can see Bai Zunfu, a crab farmer from Hunan, busily shipping crabs to dealers. He says cheerfully, “This year, I’ve sold over 50 tons of Chinese mitten crabs, generating more than 2 million yuan in revenue. They’re being sold as far as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and other major cities, and my income has more than doubled compared to last year.” Located in the northeastern part of the Qaidam Basin, Keluke Lake sits at an altitude of 2,816 meters, covers an area of 57 square kilometers, and has an average depth of over 5 meters. It is a well-known highland freshwater lake in the province. Thirty years ago, people in the Qaidam region began stocking the lake with pond fish such as carp, crucian carp, silver carp, bighead carp, grass carp, and pomfret. Since the 1990s, Keluke Lake has yielded around 100 tons of live, pollution-free aquatic products each year. However, large-scale aquaculture had not been developed, and the lake’s potential for fish farming remained largely untapped. To further boost farmers' incomes and expand aquaculture efforts, the Haixi Prefecture Committee and the prefectural government introduced a series of preferential policies. In May last year, Bai Zunfu, who had been involved in aquaculture for many years, seized the business opportunity and reached a leasing agreement with the Keluke Lake Fish Farm. He invested over 1.2 million yuan and released 6 million Chinese mitten crab seedlings into the highland lake for the first time. By August of that year, 20 tons of Chinese mitten crabs were supplied not only to the domestic market but also exported to international markets such as South Korea. Wang Qidong, a tourist from Jiangsu, was amazed to find that crabs could be produced on the Qinghai Plateau. He added that the crabs here are large, have tender and succulent meat, a delicious flavor, and are green food grown in a natural environment—making them both enjoyable and worry-free to eat. After selling the first batch of Chinese mitten crabs from Keluke Lake, Bai Zunfu not only recouped his entire investment but also made a profit of over 100,000 yuan. Between February and July this year, when the crab market on the mainland was out of season, Bai sold over 20 tons of Chinese mitten crabs to inland markets during the off-season, earning three times more than usual. He has now stored 8 tons of crabs, planning to sell them around the Spring Festival next year, expecting to earn at least 1 million yuan. When asked about his plans for next year, Bai said he intends to experiment with farming lobsters, snails, river clams, and some new varieties of freshwater fish in Keluke Lake.