March to May every year is the peak breeding season for California bass, and it is also the peak season for hatching in previous years. It is March, which is the transition period between winter and spring in South China. The weather is unstable and turns from warm to cold, which has had a certain impact on the breeding of California sea bass and raw fish, and has also delayed the breeding operations of farmers. . 1. California bass: The emergence rate is low, and the price will increase in half a month
Although according to common sense, spring is the peak breeding season for California bass, but the temperature in the Pearl River Delta is relatively high. The first batch of seedlings has been released from the seedling breeding farm in mid-month. However, from mid-February to now, cold waves have hit from time to time, which has seriously affected the hatching of California bass seedlings. California bass breeding requires a relatively stable environmental temperature, preferably 15 to 25°C. Water temperatures outside this range will cause the broodstock to be infertile. The recent unstable weather has caused the fertilization rate of California bass broodstock to be very low, only 10% to 20%. As for the price of fry, there has not been a big change compared with January. The price of 1-1.5 cm fry remains at 130-150 yuan/10,000 fish. Even so, low fertilization rates and low survival rates have resulted in a significant reduction in seed supply, which will lead to an increase in California bass seed prices. "Now the hatched fry are not enough to supply our regular customers. There are farmers who want to buy fry that are less than 1 centimeter in size." Master Deng predicts that the number of California bass fry in Shunde District will be reduced by about half this year. With the peak season of fry release, After arrival, the price of California bass fry will rise significantly in half a month.
The temperature is unstable, and the peak season of hatching is postponed: The unstable temperature has caused trouble to the California bass hatchling breeding farms, and at the same time, most farmers have also delayed the hatching operation. Because California bass fry under 3 centimeters are very sensitive to changes in temperature differences, the arrival of cold waves and sudden drops in temperature often cause fry stress. If the water temperature drops below 15°C, a large number of fry will often die. Regarding the low survival rate of California bass in the juvenile stage, many farmers choose to purchase fry (8 to 10 days) that have been marked as thick from seed breeding farms and stock them. Ji Ge, the person in charge of the Lecong Agricultural Office, told the author, “It is understood that during the Spring Festival, many fish larvae froze to death because the weather was too cold. Now that the weather is unstable, many farmers dare not rush to buy fish larvae and stock them. , to avoid losses. Large-sized seedlings will have better adaptability to the environment and will have a higher survival rate." 2. Raw fish: Rising feed prices + poor market conditions, farmers are hesitant
The situation of raw fish is similar to that of California bass. It is in the hatching stage and has not yet reached the peak hatching season. A raw fish feed dealer in Xingtan, Shunde revealed that the seedlings are expected to emerge one after another in mid-April. However, due to the sharp increase in feed prices since last year (40 catties/pack of raw fish extruded feed has increased by about 10 yuan/pack this month), and the price of commercial raw fish last year was not ideal, many farmers are still hesitant to continue this year. Farmed raw fish. Judging from the above situation, due to various factors such as unstable weather, rising feed prices, and government land acquisition, neither California bass nor raw fish have reached the peak season for frying. It is expected that by the end of March, when the temperature gradually stabilizes, farmers will gradually implement the operation of adding seedlings. It is recommended that farmers currently focus on clearing ponds and water diversion, so as to "wait for fish in the pond" to facilitate the smooth development of the next phase of work.