New batch of ‘desert seafood’ from northwest China's Xinjiang to hit market

Aquatic experts in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have successfully cultivated a variety of delicious seafood, including salmon, tilapia, lobster, and even white jade crabs, by using saline-alkali water to create "artificial seawater." A new batch of this "desert seafood" is set to hit the market, according to CCTV News on Monday.

The so-called "seafood miracle" of fish farming in the desert began with an unlikely resource—saline-alkali land. The high-salinity water in saline-alkali land is similar in composition to seawater. Through scientific adjustments, Xinjiang's aquatic experts have developed a method to create "artificial seawater" from saline-alkali water, enabling the cultivation of various delicious aquatic products.

In addition to "artificial seawater," Xinjiang has also experimented with raising saltwater shrimp in freshwater. By using desalination ponds to gradually acclimate saltwater shrimp to freshwater environments, suitable farming conditions have been created. Leveraging the high-quality freshwater resources from the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang has successfully bred plump Pacific white shrimp. Thanks to the pristine freshwater resources and years of farming experience, Xinjiang's whiteleg shrimp is known for the large size and rich flavor, winning over many consumers.

A seafood farmer based in Aksu city surnamed Wang told the Global Times that he has been engaged in aquaculture locally since 2005, accumulating 20 years of experience. Currently, the operation is small in scale, with about six people involved in crab farming under a reservoir contracting model. The crabs are primarily sold to Urumqi, with limited local sales but relatively higher demand in inland regions. 

"Although the seafood market here is limited, the crabs produced in Xinjiang are well-received for their superior taste—wild and unfed. The free-range farming method in natural waters ensures high-quality crabs," Wang said.

In 2024 alone, Xinjiang's produced 196,500 tons of aquatic products, firmly ranking first among the five provincial-level regions in northwest China. These fish, shrimp, and crabs produced in Xinjiang are not only sold across the country but also exported to countries such as Russia and Spain, CCTV reported.