Live fish leap across mountains and seas, adding freshness to foreign trade development

On the early morning of March 5th, Doumen Customs officers conducted a local inspection of aquatic animals supplied to Hong Kong. Photo by Cai Huajie

At 5:00 am on March 5th, a breeding farm in Doumen, Zhuhai was brightly lit. The oxygen pump made a "plop" sound, and a tail sea bass and bamboo shell fish jumped in the basket. Mr. Liang, the farmer, and the workers were busy all night with tasks such as netting, sorting, oxygenation, and loading. At this moment, he only hopes that these "live treasures" will pass customs inspection and catch up with the morning market in Hong Kong on time.

The water temperature is 16 degrees, the dissolved oxygen is normal, and the activity is very good! "Wang Dongtao, deputy head of the inspection department at Doumen Customs, carefully scanned each basket of fish, observing the bright red gills, intact scales, and swimming posture of the fish. Under the car, his colleague is quickly verifying the export declaration form.

This is a race against time. Since the beginning of the Year of the Horse, the demand for fresh aquatic products in the Hong Kong and Macau markets has continued to be strong. Doumen Customs has launched a "7 × 24 hour" appointment inspection mechanism, and customs officers are on duty on this "life channel" to ensure that live fish are inspected and released as soon as they arrive.

Master Liang's cart of fish will soon be transported to the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge, where it will leap into the fish market tanks in Hong Kong, becoming a fresh and sweet taste that Hong Kong residents call "surplus every year".

This' freshness' is accelerating towards a farther world. At another pond, Ms. Zhou, the person in charge of Zhuhai Xiangbai Ecological Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd., just sent away a batch of bamboo shell fish to Thailand. I have been raising fish for fifteen years. Before, I only wanted to supply to the local area and Hong Kong and Macao. I didn't expect this fish to 'swim' to farther places now, "Miss Zhou sighed.

In January of this year, she received her first Thai order for the new year -180 kilograms of bamboo shell fish, which required delivery to Bangkok within 30 hours. The distance is far and the requirements are high, and her heart is pounding. The thoughtful service of the customs gave her peace of mind: helping to connect and coordinate cabin space in advance, guiding the use of new flexible packaging, and opening the "green channel" for handling inspection and quarantine certificates. In the end, this batch of bamboo shell fish swam from Doumen Tangtou to the port of Thailand in just 18 hours.

Miss Zhou's' unexpected 'is a vivid reflection of Doumen's successful start in foreign trade. Since last year, with the continued release of dividends from the RCEP policy and the deepening of the "the Belt and Road" initiative, Doumen Customs has taken the initiative to guide enterprises to "walk on two legs" - vigorously explore the "new blue ocean" of ASEAN while stabilizing the "old market" for Hong Kong and Macao. The assistance team of the customs went deep into Tangtou, providing guidance on the entire chain from water quality management, medication records, export packaging standards, and customs clearance procedures. Nowadays, live fish from Doumen not only provide stable supply to Hong Kong, but also become the "new favorite" of Chinese New Year's Eve dinners in Thailand, Singapore and other places. "The order has been placed after the Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival). It's really a good start!" Miss Zhou was very happy.

Behind this' good start 'is the strong support for the innovation of customs supervision mode. In the monitoring room next to the inspection site, Doumen Customs officers monitor the water quality data and feeding logs of various registered farms in their jurisdiction in real time through large screens. The full chain traceability system penetrates supervision to the source of Tangtou. The precise supervision mode of "enterprise classification, risk grading, and management stratification" implemented by the customs has enabled reputable and well managed enterprises to enjoy faster customs clearance convenience, while firmly guarding the safety bottom line.

Since the beginning of this year, as of the end of February, Gongbei Customs has supervised 4535 tons of edible aquatic animals such as live fish supplied to Hong Kong and Macao, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. More than 1138 tons of live fish have been exported to countries such as Thailand and Singapore, and all products have achieved seamless connection from Tangtou to outbound.

As the sky gradually brightens, all the procedures for Mr. Liang's fish cart have been completed. The transport vehicle slowly started and headed towards the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge, with the words "Doumen Fresh Aquatic Products" particularly prominent in the morning light. Some of them will arrive at the port quickly via the bridge, while others will transfer to the airport and fly along the "Air Silk Road" towards Southeast Asian dining tables.

In the spring of the Year of the Horse in Bingwu, these fresh aquatic products leaping out of the water towns in the Greater Bay Area are carrying expectations, crossing mountains and seas, and swimming out new routes for high-quality development of foreign trade.