Under the "no-wild order", where should the forest frog breeding industry in Northeast go?
China News Weekly reporter / Huang Xiaoguang
On March 12, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a notice saying that the China Wildlife Conservation Association violated the rule that "the branches of social groups shall not establish branches", and issued administrative penalties for warnings and ordered it to revoke the frog breeding profession. 9 third-level agencies including the committee.
The revoked frog breeding professional committee is a branch of the Protection and Breeding and Utilization Committee of China Wildlife Protection Association. It was established in 2006. The original name of the frog professional committee was changed to its current name in March 2019.
On February 16, the Professional Committee of Frog Breeding published an article entitled "Wild Animal Breeding is a Great Pioneer of Human Ancestors" on its WeChat account, which caused an uproar in public opinion. Critics believe that when the epidemic is severe, the article advocates breeding and eating wild animals, which is untimely. The China Wildlife Conservation Association subsequently apologized for this and expressed its abolition of the frog breeding professional committee.
"People raise tadpoles and raise frogs"
Northeast forest frogs are also called "snow clams" and grow in the northeast region. Every year during the ice and snow season, the Northeast Forest Frog needs to hibernate under water for more than 100 days. It is regarded as a valuable frog species that integrates medicinal, tonic and beauty. In the past 50 years, the forest frog breeding industry in Northeast China has developed rapidly and has become the main force in the frog breeding industry.
Like many people living in the forest area of Northeast China, Wang Xianbin, a native of Yichun, Heilongjiang, preyed on the Northeast forest frog at a very young age. "Our ancestors have caught it and eaten it as a non-staple food." In Wang Xianbin's memory, in the 1970s, a Northeast forest frog could sell for 5 cents, which was not a small number at the time. At that time, there was no ban, and the Northeast Rana, which was caught wildly, was on the verge of extinction by the end of the 1970s.
In the context of the increasingly prominent contradiction between supply and demand, people began to explore the Northeast Rana breeding. Compared with the bullfrog that is well known to the public and can be kept in captivity, the Northeast forest frog is very difficult to breed.
"The physiological characteristics and living habits of the Northeast Rana are quite special. It breathes through the skin during hibernation underwater. If there is no oxygen supply from the living water, it will suffocate and die. And its skin's water retention function is weak. It is easy to die because of water loss. "Zhang Chaoliang, the owner of the Changbai Mountain Rana Farm in Chaoliang, Jilin City, told China News Weekly that the Northeast Rana has strict requirements on temperature, humidity, food, and overwintering conditions. living environment.
In addition, the Northeast forest frog has the habit of going uphill to the forest in spring and going downhill to overwintering in the water in autumn. It is difficult to survive under the conditions of complete enclosure and human intervention.
For this reason, from the 1970s, some farmers tried to use natural forest environment to breed Northeast forest frogs, and gradually formed a semi-artificial breeding model combining artificial management and wild stocking. Frog farmers use artificial pools or natural waters to incubate frog eggs and feed tadpoles. After tadpoles become frogs, they are returned to mountain forests for growth. When they go downhill and overwinter in autumn, they will be captured and recycled. This semi-artificial breeding model is visually summarized as "People raise tadpoles and raise frogs".
But even for semi-artificial breeding, the requirements of the Northeast forest frog on the breeding environment are very strict. Frog farmers need to contract natural habitats with good vegetation conditions and sufficient water resources, and use natural ditch systems for breeding.
The true popularity of forest frog breeding in the Northeast began in the 1990s. Taking Jilin Province and Long City as examples, the city began artificially breeding Northeast forest frogs in the forest area in 1991, with a population of 60,000. In 1997, farming took shape in the whole city, and the number of recaptured Northeast forest frogs increased to 1 million to 1.2 million per year.
"At that time, on the one hand, the economic development was backward, and the income of forestry workers was very low. On the other hand, the importance of wildlife protection was not enough. The breeding of Northeast forest frogs was born under this background." A wild animal in Harbin Protection volunteer said.
Since 1998, the state has implemented natural forest protection projects. While prohibiting logging of natural forests, it encourages laid-off workers from forest farms to rely on forestry resources for reemployment. In the three northeastern provinces, Northeast forest frog farming has been widely promoted as an alternative understory economy.
It was in 1998 that, encouraged by the forestry department, Wang Xianbin transformed from a forest farm worker to a frogman. "Everyone can make money in this business, and there are more and more people." Wang Xianbin contracted 2,000 hectares of forest land for free for the first three years. After three years, he needs to pay the forestry department 2 yuan per hectare of forest land for paid use. fee. Today, this cost has risen to 3.5 yuan per hectare locally.
Zhang Chaoliang entered the business in 1999. He graduated from Jilin Forestry College and served as deputy director of the Specialty Bureau of Panshi County (now Panshi City) of Jilin Province in his early years. In one survey, I encountered a frog farmer who learned that the other party invested less than 2,000 yuan from contracted forest farms to farming, but the revenue was as high as 150,000 yuan. At that time, he was shocked when his monthly salary was only more than 100 yuan. In 1999, he resigned from the sea and embarked on the road of raising frogs.
In 2003, the State Forestry Administration listed for the first time the "List of Terrestrial Wild Animals with Commercially Utilized Domestication and Reproduction Techniques". Northeast Rana and Heilongjiang Rana were included, which greatly contributed to the large-scale development of Northeast Rana The driving force.
In China, there are 17 species of forest frogs. Different species of forest frogs have different living habits. Only the Northeast forest frog and the Heilongjiang forest frog distributed in the northeast can be artificially cultivated, especially the Northeast forest frog. "The other 15 species that want to be farmed must also understand their inherent survival laws. One of the main reasons why they are not farmed on a large scale is that their economic value is not high, just like black chickens can make Baifeng Wan, but other chickens cannot. "" Zhang Zhaoliang said.
In the early years, the breeding of Rana chensinensis was relatively disordered. According to the "Investigation and Research on China's Forest Rana Resources in the Three Northeastern Provinces" issued by the former State Forestry Administration's Survey Planning and Design Institute, the number of wild populations of Northeast Rana frogs distributed in the three provinces of Hei, Ji and Liao in 2004 was 848 million, which is the same as in the 1990s. Compared with the results of the census, it decreased by 21.5% ~ 32.7%. The study also mentioned that the decrease in the number of forest frogs in Northeast China is caused by habitat destruction, environmental pollution, and inadequate management and human interference.
Set up a professional committee to promote farming
In July 2006, the Frog Professional Committee was established in Tieli City, Heilongjiang. "At that time, the State Forestry Administration conducted a survey on the forest frog aquaculture industry in the three northeastern provinces in Northeast China and affirmed the achievements of semi-artificial aquaculture. On this basis, the China Wildlife Conservation Association's professional breeding committee was authorized to establish a frog professional committee." He is also the deputy director of the Frog Professional Committee.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association is a non-profit social organization and is administratively guided by the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau. In January 1991, the association established a second-level institution-a professional breeding committee. The aquaculture professional committee is attached to the Wildlife Resources College of Northeast Forestry University. Ma Jianzhang, founder of the college and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, serves as the director.
"If the domestication and breeding of wild animals is disorderly and unorganized, it is easy to mess up. The standardization and guidance role of the professional breeding committee." Li Qingwen, vice chairman of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, explained to "China News Weekly", "Wild animal species There are many, in order to carry out our work in a more targeted manner, we have set up branches such as frogs and snakes under the professional breeding committee. "
In addition to Zhang Zhaoliang, the core leading members of the frog professional committee, there are Professor Zhao Wenge (director) of Harbin Normal University and Tian Xiuhua (deputy director) of Northeast Forestry University, both of whom are scholars who study and promote forest frog breeding in Northeast China.
Although the frogs farmed in China include bullfrogs, stone frogs, black-spotted frogs, tiger frogs, etc., the work of the frog professional committee is mainly the breeding of Northeast forest frogs, including academic seminars, industry surveys, technology promotion, etc. .
According to Zhang Zhaoliang, as soon as the professional committee for frogs was established, it was put into the preparation of the book "Practical Techniques for Forest Frog Breeding in Northeast China". This book was published by the Northeast Forestry University Press in 2009 and has since become an essential reference textbook for frogmen. In addition, the committee was also ordered by the State Forestry Administration to formulate the "Northeast Rana Frog Breeding Operation Regulations" as the basis for standardized breeding operations.
Under the leadership of Zhao Wenge and other three persons, the Frog Professional Committee held several training courses on breeding techniques, selected more than 20 demonstration bases for Northeast Rana frog breeding in the three provinces in Northeast China, and awarded Shulin City of Jilin Province with the title of “Northeast Rana Frog of China The title of "Hometown of Breeding". "The Shulan forest frog industry is at the forefront of the country, and the local forestry bureau has set up a forest frog office to issue licenses and technical training." Zhang Zhaoliang said.
However, the frog professional committee still has not changed the semi-artificial breeding mode of the Northeast forest frog. Zhang Zhaoliang mentioned that in 2006, a committee member promoted full artificial farming to more than 200 farmers in Tieli City, but failed in a short time.
In 2011, Ning Fangyong and Bai Xiujuan from the College of Animal Science and Technology of Northeast Agricultural University pointed out in the article "Problems and Development Strategies of Chinese Forest Rana Industry" that the artificial breeding of Northeast Forest Rana has experienced more than 20 years of exploration After that, there was still no complete breakthrough in the "half-mountain and half-man" model, which was mainly based on the closure of mountains and ditches, and supplemented by human feeding management. There was no scientifically artificial breeding model of Rana chensinensis worthy of reference and promotion.
This breeding method is difficult to distinguish between pure wild Northeast forest frog and farmed Northeast forest frog. Some experts believe that “strictly speaking, the Northeast forest frog is not an artificially cultivated population and should be a wild animal.” In fact, the impact of artificial breeding on the wild population of the Northeast forest frog and the legality of breeding have long been questioned.
Even if there is controversy, the forest frog breeding industry in Northeast China has achieved rapid development. "Jilin Province took Rana as one of the eight leading industries during the" Twelfth Five-Year Plan "period. Every year, the provincial government financed 5 million yuan as an industry support fund. Now it is listed as the" Thirteenth Five-Year Plan "under the eight leading forest undertakings. One of the industries. "Said Tian Xiuhua, former deputy director of the Frog Professional Committee. The data she provided to "China News Weekly" shows that the number of forest frogs in Northeast China currently reaches 10 billion, compared with the number of other frogs such as bullfrogs, stone frogs, black spotted frogs, tiger frogs and other frogs. Only the following.
Zhang Zhaoliang said that these data were collected from the forestry departments in various places. "The Northeast forest frog is semi-artificially farmed. Although the number of farming is large, the recovery rate is less than 5%, resulting in the fact that the commercial volume of Northeast forest frog is actually much lower than that of other artificially farmed frogs."
Take the bullfrog as an example. The bullfrog is an exotic frog species. It was introduced into China from Cuba in 1959. It has been widely promoted and cultivated in the 1990s. It has a single purpose and a single industrial chain. It is mainly used for meat. yuan. In contrast, the price of Northeast Rana is 80 yuan to 260 yuan per catty.
According to Zhang Zhaoliang, the whole body of Northeast Rana frog can be used as medicine, and eggs, seeds, meat, bone, skin, brain, oil, etc., have high medicinal value. Among them, the most expensive snow clam oil, taken from the fallopian tube of the female frog, according to the grade, the price per kilogram ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan.
In fact, the Northeast forest frog is a commodity from egg to adult, only for different purposes. The sale of eggs and young frogs is for breeding, and adult frogs will eventually flow to the dining table and pharmaceutical processing plants. This process involves purchasers, pharmaceutical industry, health care industry, cosmetics industry, catering industry, etc., thus forming a complete set of industrial chains.
The data provided by Tian Xiuhua to "China News Weekly" shows that there are currently about 34,000 forest frog farmers in Northeast China and about 500,000 employees in the whole chain, with an annual output value of up to 12 billion yuan. "The limited resources of the Northeast Rana frog and the unlimited market demand determine that the industry will continue to flourish for a long time." "Northeast Rana Frog Breeding Instructions" emphasized.
Order 55
On August 25, 2018, Chen Fengxue, chairman of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and others visited Yichun, Heilongjiang to investigate the forest frog breeding industry in Northeast China.
Chen Fengxue mentioned in his research that Northeast Rana aquaculture has a long history in China, especially in Northeast China, and has played an important role in promoting regional economic development, promoting targeted poverty alleviation, protecting people's health, and improving the core competitiveness of Chinese medicine in China. However, in the long-term development process, affected by the degradation of the provenance, single product and lagging management, it has hindered the sustainable and healthy development of the Northeast forest frog industry to a certain extent.
In this year, the frog professional committee and its vigorously promoted Northeast forest frog breeding industry encountered a crisis.
On September 19, 2018, CCTV Financial Channel reported the phenomenon of illegal hunting of Northeast forest frogs in the Yichun forest area of Heilongjiang, with the title of "Heilongjiang Yichun: Rana frog descending the mountain and overwintering, encountering half-way interception" extinction "hunting" The report mentions that there are a large number of "dry Liangzi" in the Tangwang River, Yijimi River, Eugen River, Hulan River and other watersheds in Yichun, "seriously even surrounded a mountain by layers."
"Han Liangzi" is a northeastern dialect, referring to the plastic film used to catch the northeast forest frog. Every year when the northeast forest frog goes down the mountain for winter, the frog catcher uses a plastic film more than one meter high to set up a barrier on the mountainside to prevent the northeast forest frog from going down the mountain for picking.
The report believes that this is an extinct hunting method, and users include both thieves and frogmen. The CCTV Finance Channel report also mentioned that many farmers and forestry departments usually only have a single breeding contract, lacking the procedures required by law for the certification of frog origin, quarantine certificate, market operation permit, etc. Name, the real hunting. "
The day after the report was issued, the General Office of the Heilongjiang Provincial Government issued the “Emergency Notice on Resolutely Prohibiting the Hunting of Forest Frogs and Strengthening the Management of Wild Animals” (Hei Zheng Ban Regulation [2018] No. 55, hereinafter referred to as Order 55), requesting the Northeast Forest Frog Special law enforcement inspections will be carried out in wintering areas and migration passages, and "Dry Liangzi" will be demolished according to law to ensure smooth passage of migration passages. Order 55 also mentioned that the illegal capture of wild Northeast forest frogs in the name of breeding should be strictly prohibited, and the fall of 2018 to the end of 2020 should be set as the recovery period of wild Northeast forest frogs, and the hunting and operation of wild Northeast forest frogs are prohibited.
Yichun farmer Cui Shiqiang told China News Weekly that Northeast Rana frog farming had a large initial investment and a long payback period. Order 55 restricted farming and recapture, which caused a fatal blow to many farmers.
To this end, Ma Jianzhang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an honorary dean of the Wildlife Resources Institute of Northeast Forestry University, specially wrote a "Recommendation on Strengthening Industry Rectification and Standardization and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Forest Frog Industry" to the Heilongjiang Provincial Government. The letter of recommendation mentioned that under the influence of Order 55, the loss of frog farmers in the entire Yichun region was more than 200 million yuan, and the loss of frog farmers in the whole province was more than 600 million yuan.
Ma Jianzhang said that on November 18, 2018, at the request of some Northeast forest frog farmers, the Northeast Forestry University Wildlife Resources Institute organized a symposium. "In the symposium, we found that the" extinct "hunting is exaggerated. There are indeed illegal hunting behaviors of Northeast forest frogs in the district, but most of them are scattered households and individuals. Most frog farmers only catch and use adult frogs that have grown to a certain size, and concentrate the young frogs in the wintering pond. In the second year, the mountains relinquished to the contract continue to grow. "
In response to the controversy of "Han Liangzi", Tian Xiuhua explained that this is a necessary way for farmers to recapture the Northeast forest frog. "If 'Han Liangzi' is not used, it is difficult to recover scattered Northeast forest frogs. Many rivers dry up in winter. Northeastern forest frogs can easily die without finding water. Unlike poachers, farmers often use "Hanliangzi" to "grab big and let go."
The impact of Order 55 on the forest frog aquaculture in Northeast China continues to this day. "It is said that we only catch and plunder wild resources, and our farmers are not convinced." Yi Chun, a frog breeder, Cui Shiqiang repeatedly emphasized that although the Northeast forest frog is semi-artificially farmed, it has paid a lot of effort. He said that the forest frogs in the northeastern forest area he contracted not only did not decrease, but reached the level of flooding.
From "Society" to "Industry Association"
In October 2018, the China Wildlife Conservation Association established the Protection, Breeding and Utilization Committee to replace the previous breeding professional committee. According to Zhang Zhaoliang, the Protection Breeding and Utilization Committee originally planned to establish 17 branches, including the established professional committees for the breeding of snakes, frogs, ducks and ducks, and the planned professional committee for the breeding of birds and turtles.
The Frog Breeding Professional Committee was established at Northeast Forestry University in March 2019, replacing the previous Frog Breeding Professional Committee.
Zhang Zhaoliang explained that the name was changed, "It is because the development of wild animal breeding has reached a considerable scale, with an annual output value of more than 500 billion yuan. The original committee ’s functions cannot meet the needs of industrial development. Therefore, the original State Forestry Administration authorized China ’s wild animals. The protection association transforms the functions of the professional breeding committee. "
According to Zhang Zhaoliang's analysis, these branches were originally of the "society" nature, and the members were mainly scholars. Their work focused on academic discussions and the standardization and promotion of breeding technology; after re-establishment, the nature of the branches changed to "industry associations."
"An obvious change is that the leadership of the branch changed from the original academic expert to the boss." Zhang Zhaoliang said. Taking the frog breeding professional committee as an example, the post of director from the former scholar Zhao Wenge was changed to businessman Zhang Fengchun. The latter is the chairman of Heilongjiang Sibao Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The main business of the enterprise is the breeding and sales of Northeast forest frogs. Correspondingly, the work of the Frog Breeding Professional Committee has expanded from the academic level to specific industry services.
In terms of operating mode, the new committee's funding sources are mainly service fees and sponsorship fees. "Evaluating the level of frog farms, providing legal services, and conducting training can properly collect fees. In addition, we also helped Zhang Fengchun purchase the Northeast forest frog to process snow clam oil. He took part of the money to sponsor the new committee." Zhang Zhaoliang said .
"In the past few years, all departments have stuck with you. With this organization, we have a place to reflect the problem, so we are very welcome." Wang Xianbin, who was invited to participate in the founding meeting of the new committee, said. Zhang Zhaoliang mentioned that the biggest contribution after the establishment of the new committee was "reversing the passive situation brought about by Order 55".
According to the information obtained by China News Weekly, after the establishment of the Professional Committee for Frog Breeding, the authors refuted the previous questions on polyculture, only catching no breeding, and unlicensed breeding for Northeast Rana breeding. In addition, the new committee organized experts and legal professionals to discuss and propose solutions to the difficulties encountered by Yichun Forest and Grassland Bureau in implementing the 55th order in distinguishing wild Northeast forest frogs from breeding Northeast forest frogs.
On February 16, when the epidemic situation was still severe and the demand for fasting wild animals increased, the Frog Breeding Professional Committee launched the article "Wild Animal Breeding is a Great Work of Human Ancestors" on WeChat, " A comprehensive ban on wild animals is arbitrary, unscientific and irrational. Not only can it not stop the emergence of new viruses, but it may also bring more social problems. "In terms of human beings, the demand for wild animal products has never stopped. The above has become a rigid demand. "
As one of the authors of the article, Zhang Zhaoliang told China News Weekly, "I don't think the article's view is wrong", "Only relying on artificial restrictions, and staying in shallow thinking without buying and selling without killing, it is difficult to fundamentally Solve the problem". He said that the article believes that the breeding of wild animals is essentially another form of protection, and that protection and utilization should not be opposed.
The disputes caused by the forestry frog farming industry in Northeast China reflect to a certain extent the two positions of "protection" and "utilization", which are contests in wildlife management. On March 22, CCTV Finance Channel launched a report "Rana: The Ecological" Bomb "Hidden under the Black Interest Chain", again focusing on the issue of forest frog breeding in Northeast China. Jiang Jianping, a researcher at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned in an interview that the semi-artificial culture method has already had a serious impact on the genetic structure of the Northeast forest frog population.
It is difficult to reach consensus on the dispute between conservationists and frog breeders. "With the increasing emphasis on environmental issues, the legalization of Northeast forest frog farming has also been exposed." The aforementioned Harbin Wildlife Conservation Volunteer believes, "In the end, Northeast forest frog farming is a professional issue and a scientific question. Should it be legalized? , Need to set up an expert group to study and give scientific conclusions. "
Wang Xianbin told China News Weekly that now that the Northeast Rana frog farming industry has been pressed the pause button, he is waiting for the finalization of the policy.
A few days ago, the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau issued a notice requesting a comprehensive rectification of institutions for the artificial breeding and operation of wild animals, and the cessation of all activities for the utilization of terrestrial wild animals for food purposes.
After the promulgation of the fasting order for wildlife, Qiu Renzong, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Luo Shenglian, a representative of the 13th National People's Congress, issued a joint open letter calling for the "wild animal products and derivatives that cannot be artificially cultured" "Pin" is included in the scope of fasting.
Zhang Zhaoliang said, "The forest frog breeding industry in Northeast China may be sentenced to death at any time, and it has come to the most dangerous time."
China News Weekly, Issue 12, 2020
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