A few days ago, members of the 100th CCAfa-“China Conservation Area for Shellfish at Yueqing Bay” visited and exchanged work with CBCGDF and reached a consensus on the “Babe Action”.

The “Babe Action” is a campaign initiated by CCA for Shellfish at Yueqing Bay. “Babe” refers to “protect the shellfish” while the word “Babe” also rhymes with “treasure” in Chinese.

The representative of the CCAfa first specified the magnitude of shellfish protection in five aspects:

◆ The treasure of biological evolution: Shellfish appeared 500 million years ago and has a long history.

◆The treasure of economic life: Seashells is the oldest currency in China. The currency of the Shang Dynasty was in the shape of seashells.

◆ The treasure of human life: Among all the human ingredients, the shellfish owns the most varieties.

◆The treasure of fishery production: In 2017, China's shellfish production reached 15.2191 million tons, which is the second largest economic pillar in China's fishery production. The four cultured shellfish are razor clams, sea clams, oysters, and hard clams.

◆The treasure of the ecological environment: Shellfish not only serves as the purifier for water, coadjutor for disaster mitigation but also facilitates the carbon sequestration and maintains a healthy marine ecosystem.

Breeding shellfish has been on the rise in Yueqing Bay since the Ming Dynasty. Nowadays the place has become the largest production base for shellfish in China and the national key breeding base. The breeding base in Sanyu Village is more than 1,000 mu, with an annual output of more than 150 species, where the shellfish are more than 300 billion tons, occupying nearly 40% of the national tidal flat shellfish and are largely exported to overseas.

To protect the paradise of shellfish, the CCAfa, with local residents, volunteers, scholars, and social societies, launched the Campaign “Babe Action” with approaches containing:

● Urge Weng's sewage treatment plant to immediately shut down and relocate- return the factory to shellfish raising.

● Called the Yueqing Municipal Government to close the project of reclaiming mudflats for farming- revert cultivated land to wetlands.

● Called Yueqing City to comprehensively clean up non- standard ponds and return the mudflats.

Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF showed his highly support for the "Babe Action" and expressed his willingness to attend the upcoming "Babe Conference", and discuss with other experts in the field, first-line NGOs, volunteers, deputies to the people's congress, media friends, etc. CBCGDF will prepare to send letters to the State Oceanic Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, Wenzhou City, Yueqing City, and other relevant departments to backup the "Babe Action"; and promote legal means to protect the public’s environmental rights. Subsequent plans of the team are to set up the "Babe Fund", establish a shellfish museum, and conduct educational activities.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF China Conservation Area for Shellfish at Yueqing Bay)

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4855/7053.html

By / Cat