The place where the sea water recedes to the end of the sky - Dongxing Beilun River Estuary Mangrove Reserve Sea Duck Breeding Farm

I just saw the picture below. You may think it is a desert area after the rain, because there is no grass growing here; some people may think it is farmland that has just been harvested, because there are tractors in the picture; maybe you may think it is about to dry up. The bottom of the lake, because there are still some water stains here. However, no one would have thought that this place is actually the bottom of the sea. In just half a day, this place will become a vast ocean! No, it’s not “become”. This is originally part of the sea. It’s just that the unique geographical shape of the Beibu Gulf has created a huge and vast intertidal zone in the Dongxing Beilun River Estuary National Mangrove Reserve. The sea water can recede overnight. At the end of the day, or in just one day, the place where I stand is submerged under several meters of sea water.

Figure 1 Driving a tractor on the seabed is not a tractor "cow", not afraid of water, but the sea water has retreated to an unknown place

In order to "gather" all the elements together, I specially Standing on a seawall several meters high, there is a section of the seawall in the lower left corner of the picture. The huge rocks scattered under the seawall reveal the huge destructive power of the waves during the spring tide, when the tide rushes for several kilometers and hits the seawall. In the ancient fishing village of Ganshan, which is also part of Fangchenggang City, I saw a photo of sea water hitting the seawall, creating huge waves of more than ten meters. There are many such huge waves there during the spring tide period between May and June every year. In fact, huge waves and huge intertidal zones are just different manifestations of the same geographical phenomenon. The large green vegetation deep into the intertidal zone on the left is undoubtedly a mangrove, while the sea ducks foraging freely on the seabed are sea ducks. Even if you climb high and look far away, you still can't find the "sea".

Picture 2: Standing on a seawall several meters high, I still can’t find the “sea”. Not far away is a group of sea ducks.

Move your eyes away from the position in the picture above. To our right is a larger mangrove forest closer to us. We can walk very close to the outline of the sea side where the mangrove trees stand. This is an experience we have never had in other mangrove reserves. Far far away, on the right bank of the Beilun River estuary is Vietnam. In the past, Chinese border residents walked to Vietnam by "stepping on the sea". Just reading this sentence, I thought it was talking about the peerless martial arts "Lingbo Weibu" .

Figure 3 The outer contour of the mangrove facing the sea is very close at hand. Who would have thought that half a day ago this place was still a vast ocean, with just a damaged fishing boat hinting at the daily "changes in the sea"

“Vicissitudes of life” all refer to huge changes over a long period of time. However, in the intertidal zone of the Beilun River Estuary National Mangrove Reserve in Dongxing, the spectacle of “vast changes in the sea” can be staged in just half a day. This may take a long time. Let’s start with the unique geographical features of Beilun River Estuary and Beibu Gulf. Beibu Gulf is surrounded by land on three sides: Hainan Island and Leizhou Peninsula to the east, mainland China to the north, and the Vietnamese coast of Indochina Peninsula to the west. The tides in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean will surge into Hangzhou Bay, creating a high tide level. The Beilun River Estuary is located exactly at the turning point between the east-west coastline of mainland China and the north-south coastline of Vietnam, which further expands the scope of the intertidal zone. This creates a place where "the sea changes" and "the seawater recedes to the end of the sky" within half a day. of wonders.

Figure 4: The outer contour of the mangrove facing the sea. The farthest land in the picture is Vietnam. In the past, border residents used to "step on the waves" to Vietnam from here

The vast intertidal zone is the sea duck breeding farm of "Wancheng Agriculture". Where mangroves exist, the coastline ecosystem is always the most diverse and the number of organisms is the richest. Abundant benthic organisms provide abundant food for the growth of free-range sea ducks. According to Chairman Zou Feng of "Wancheng Agriculture", their free-range sea ducks are only fed once a day at night, with an average of about 3 taels. According to the weight of a sea duck egg, which weighs one tael, and a feed of 1:3 For example, the amount of feed fed is barely enough to transform the nutrition of one sea duck egg. The sea duck's growth and metabolism depend entirely on foraging in the wild in the vast tidal flats and mangroves. The feed given is not synthetic either, but simply cracked corn or unhusked rice. This kind of feeding method basically eliminates the intake of excessive hormones and antibiotics that endanger food safety from the food source.

Figure 5 My colleague Xiao Li is studying the benthic organisms densely populated on the tidal flats. In the picture, there are densely packed small snails and small crab holes

We visited "Wancheng" in the evening "Agriculture" conducted fieldwork at a sea duck farm. Although the lighting was slightly poor and the picture quality was not good enough, it was in time for the sea ducks to return to the farm. Without human intervention, groups of sea ducks lined up and walked to the breeding farm as if they had heard the order. After a while, the sea ducks that were freely foraging on the tidal flat disappeared without a trace! This scene is very interesting.

Figure 6 In the evening, sea ducks return to the breeding farm in unison

This kind of free-range breeding brings a very big benefit, that is, due to the low breeding density and contact with nature, The probability of disease in sea ducks is extremely low. According to Chairman Zou’s recollection, sea ducks raised in this way never get sick. The national epidemic prevention department only administers the vaccine once a year, and according to his opinion, this time it is redundant. "It's just that the country will not allow large-scale marketing of the vaccine without this vaccination," he said with a smile.

Figure 7: Zou Feng, the owner of "Wancheng Agriculture"

Sea ducks raised in this way not only produce delicious eggs, but also because of the large amount of activity of sea ducks, they are easy to raise. It takes a long time (usually about 2 years) and is light in weight (the net weight is only 1.5 kilograms after being raised for two years). The meat of sea duck is very delicious and is often a good ingredient for making old duck soup. And because it is truly free-range, the feed cost (3 taels of feed per day) and management cost (the sea ducks do not need to be managed, they return to the breeding farm by themselves) are very low, so the price of such delicious ingredients is not high, and it is very close to the people!

China's agriculture has actually surprised "Huiju people" more than once. Often inadvertently, you will discover beautiful scenery, delicious food, and eco-friendly production methods. Before coming to the "Wancheng Agriculture" sea duck farm in Dongxing, I thought it would be a "certified" or "certified", routine field investigation that did not involve the landscape. However, who would have thought that this is the place where the sea water recedes to the end of the sky overnight! Even if I searched on Baidu afterwards, there was no introduction of related terms. The role of mangroves as ecological barriers along the coast has become increasingly known to the public. Many places have even developed mangrove landscape tourism. However, in the national nature reserve at the Beilun River Estuary in Dongxing, people can even walk directly into the mangroves. , which is rare in other regions. And using the vast intertidal zone for sea duck farming, isn’t it the best way to adapt to local conditions and allow people to live in harmony with nature? Therefore, Huiju.com aims to introduce such products, origins, and production methods to ordinary consumers. Environmental protection and circular economy can actually be a pleasant and enjoyable process.

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