CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Life of Zhang Fusui

Zhang Fusui was born in Dachenjiazhuang Village, Changyi City, Weifang City, Shandong Province on December 27, 1927. He was the fifth of five siblings. His parents worked hard and lived frugally, and the family lived a very hard life.

In September 1949, Zhang Fusui was admitted to the National Shandong University's Department of Fisheries, majoring in aquaculture. During this period, Zhang Fusui systematically studied marine science, laying a solid foundation for future scientific research. With the founding of New China, the country was in the process of development. Zhang Fusui was full of confidence in the future of the motherland and full of imagination about life, and was determined to devote himself to the cause of marine science.

In August 1953, Zhang Fusui graduated from Shandong University and was assigned to work at Guangdong Fisheries School as a teacher in the aquaculture department, teaching courses such as plankton and shellfish aquaculture. At that time, the school encountered some difficulties in teaching materials, so Zhang Fusui conducted investigations and research while teaching and revising the teaching materials. Zhang Fusui's active efforts and hard work were recognized by the school, and he was sent to Shandong University and the Marine Biology Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for further studies, which further consolidated his scientific research foundation and broadened his academic horizons.

In September 1956, Zhang Fusui successfully passed the entrance examination for the Marine Biology Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a graduate student, studying shellfish taxonomy under the tutelage of Mr. Zhang Xi. From then on, Zhang Fusui officially started his research journey in marine science.

In 1962, he graduated with a Ph.D. in marine biology from the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In his early years, Zhang Fusui systematically studied the taxonomic flora of planktonic mollusks in China's seas, and later turned to ecological and zoogeographic research, both of which achieved certain results.

In the 1960s, Professor Zhang Fusui was mainly engaged in the study of the taxonomic classification of marine planktonic molluscs. He systematically studied the planktonic molluscs in China's oceans for the first time. In the taxonomic part, he identified and reported 61 species, including 1 new genus and 4 new species. He also revised the classification system of the Prionogkossinae family and established a new subfamily, Prionogkossinae. In the ecological part, he discovered for the first time the phenomenon of longitudinal migration, migration loss, annual cycle and dynamics of the planktonic molluscs in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Based on this, he selected the warm current indicator species, which provided a biological basis for the nature of the Yellow Sea warm current being strong in winter and weak in summer.

In addition, he also assisted Professor Zhang Xi in the study of marine animal geography. Using benthic mollusks as materials, he divided the marine fauna of China into "sub-regional levels". In the "Indian Ocean-Western Pacific" zoogeographical region. In 1963, he first proposed the subtropical "China-Japan sub-region", and demarcated its boundary with the tropical "India-Malaysia" region to the south at the southern tip of Hainan Island, the southwestern tip and northeastern corner of Taiwan Province, north of Amami Oshima and north of Hachijo Island, Japan's Noto Peninsula, the coast of the Nihon Masato Sea, Choshi, and the Pacific coast. The warm temperate nature of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea was included in the "Far East Asia Region" of the temperate zone of the North Pacific Ocean to the north, thus pushing the research on China's marine zoogeography to the level of regional zoogeography and laying a scientific foundation for the subsequent mussel seed breeding and scallop introduction.

In the 1970s, the development and utilization of the ocean had become a global trend, and extracting protein from the ocean became one of the focuses of marine biologists. While some far-sighted scientists in the West were still "waiting to see whether there would be enough economic and nutritional incentives to promote the plan to study artificial mussel breeding" to develop mussel farming, Zhang Fusui and his research group had already begun to implement and develop research projects related to experimental ecology and shellfish farming. They successively led the investigation of Shandong clam resources and tidal flat farming research and clam farming research; presided over the investigation of clam resources in the Liaohe River estuary of Liaoning Province, a famous clam production area, laying the foundation for the export of live clams; and presided over the project "Mussel Farming Biology and Farming Technology".

Based on the investigation and research of the biology of Yellow Sea mussels, a new process of artificial breeding and natural seedling collection of mussels was created, which effectively promoted the industrialization of mussel farming in Shandong; for the first time, the growth and reproduction of Yellow Sea mussels and the ecological laws of larvae were systematically studied, and it was found that mussels in this sea area have two breeding seasons in spring and autumn; the relationship between the breeding season and water temperature of Jiaozhou Bay mussels was studied in detail. For the first time, it was discovered and explained that eggs laid in early spring and late autumn during the two breeding seasons of spring and autumn cannot metamorphose into juveniles in the sea, and the environmental constraint mechanism and the main reason for the change in population size were explained. It was the first to point out that the constraints on the development of mussel seed sources along the Shandong coast are mainly the insufficient number of attachment bases and reproductive groups, and it was proposed that timely supplementation of attachment bases and reproductive groups is the key to the formation of natural seedlings.

According to the biological laws and ecological characteristics of the sea areas where mussels are located, on the basis of investigating and studying the biology of mussels, through experimental research, the "waste straw rope seedling collection method" and "mussel natural seedling collection field establishment" technology were successfully created in 1972-1973, solving the problem of seedling supply. Then, a series of key technologies such as bait structure, seedling collection equipment, bacterial control and seedling intermediate cultivation were studied and improved, and a complete artificial seedling theory and technical system was established. For the first time, mussel seedling cultivation was engineered, and the seedling yield per unit area set a world record, which promoted the rapid development of my country's mussel farming industry.

In 1977, the mussel production in Shandong alone reached 50,000 tons, making mussels the mainstay of the country's marine aquaculture industry at the time. His achievements attracted the attention of international academic colleagues and laid the foundation for the artificial breeding and aquaculture of other shellfish in the future.

In the 1980s, the shallow-water aquaculture in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea in China was facing a serious decline due to the lack of aquaculture species and low efficiency. Zhang Fusui and his research team turned their attention to the biology, introduction and aquaculture of scallops. Scallops were once revered as one of the eight delicacies of seafood. Not to mention that ordinary people found it difficult to eat, even state banquets once "imported" them for enjoyment. Professor Zhang Fusui targeted it with his keen vision. On the basis of systematic research on the geography and ecological theory of mollusks, he conducted comparative analysis of society, economy, marine environment and biology. Professor Zhang Fusui and others concluded that it was feasible to introduce American bay scallops into my country.

Bay scallops are a kind of wild shellfish produced on the Atlantic coast of the United States, known for their rapid growth. In 1981-1982, with the strong support of the leaders of the Institute of Oceanography and the help of American friends, bay scallop broodstock were introduced from the Atlantic coast of the United States four times. Key technical issues such as broodstock ripening, bait, egg collection, hatching, larval culture, seedling intermediate cultivation, and cultivation were solved. The results showed that the 26 surviving broodstock and their offspring introduced in 1982 were able to reproduce and grow normally in Chinese waters. Under artificial control conditions, artificial ripening and reproduction can be carried out in advance outside the reproductive season and factory-based seedling cultivation can be carried out, thereby increasing the cultivation period of scallops by 2 months and reaching commercial specifications by the end of the year. Seedling collection equipment and seedling intermediate cultivation technology that are suitable for different water environments have been developed, and a series of relevant cultivation parameters and key technologies have been determined through experiments. A set of factory-based seedling cultivation technology and fully artificial cultivation technology have been established, which solves the seed supply problem for the large-scale development of bay scallop aquaculture.

In 1985, with the strong support of governments at all levels and the joint efforts of aquatic systems in Shandong, Liaoning, Hebei and other places, the bay scallop breeding and cultivation technology was widely promoted, and a stable marine aquaculture industry with both strong production and sales was initially formed. The world's first bay scallop aquaculture industry was formed in China, and it has become one of the three pillars of China's marine aquaculture industry, namely kelp, shrimp and scallops, and has achieved huge social and economic benefits. In the late 1980s, China's shellfish aquaculture output ranked first in the world. The bay scallop introduction project has greatly promoted the development of China's marine aquaculture industry.

In addition to adding new aquaculture objects, the scallop raft aquaculture industry was also pioneered in the Bohai Sea. Bay scallops are cultivated in the Bohai Sea during the high temperature seasons of summer and autumn, avoiding the problem that the Bohai Sea has strong winds and waves in winter and low water temperatures, which are not suitable for winter raft aquaculture of scallops and kelp. A rotational culture model for bay scallops (warm water) and kelp (cold water) has been established, realizing seasonal rotational culture in the same sea area using the same aquaculture facilities. Based on the different feeding habits and space occupied by bay scallops and shrimps, a mixed culture model for the two has been established. The success of the factory-based breeding of bay scallops has driven and promoted the development of temperature-controlled breeding of other shellfish such as Chlamys farreri.

In the 1990s, in order to solve the genetic decline caused by long-term artificial breeding of bay scallops, Zhang Fusui carried out "introduction and rejuvenation" research, which achieved good results. In 1994-1995, he updated the germplasm resources of all breeding groups to ensure the healthy development of the breeding industry.

In order to develop and utilize China's vast marine resources in the South China Sea, he introduced Gulf of Mexico scallops to the South China Sea and the East China Sea three times based on the properties of the marine shellfish fauna and the laws of marine geographical ecology, and the industry has begun to take shape.

According to the Sino-US marine and fishery cooperative research agreement, the Institute of Oceanography was invited to send scientific and technical personnel to the United States in 1994 to help establish a bay scallop breeding demonstration site. The bay scallop introduction project has fully improved the international status of Chinese shellfish research. Dr. K. Chew, a world authority on aquaculture, believes that it is "one of the most successful aquaculture projects in the world in the past decade."

In 1995, at the 8th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 3rd General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the state awarded Professor Zhang Fusui the "Tan Kah Kee Agricultural Science Award." He was the only scientist who was not an academician among the award-winning scientists at that time.

With the rapid development of China's marine aquaculture, new problems such as the explosive death of Chlamys farreri appeared in the late 1990s. Based on in-depth investigation and research, Zhang Fusui analyzed the causes of large-scale deaths from many aspects and proposed corresponding countermeasures and emergency measures, such as adjusting the aquaculture density according to the scientifically evaluated aquaculture capacity, cultivating improved varieties, rotating shellfish and algae, and offshore aquaculture, thus ensuring the sustainable development of the shellfish aquaculture industry. By 2000, the cumulative output of China's bay scallop aquaculture reached 3.3 million tons, with an output value of about 13 billion yuan. The output in 2000 was 640,000 tons, accounting for about 2/3 of China's total scallop production.

Although he is already in his seventies, Zhang Fusui is still "an old horse waiting for his turn". In recent years, he has paid close attention to the four major problems of germplasm, disease, environment and product quality in China's marine aquaculture industry, and proposed a series of new ideas and measures, such as "ecological aquaculture and engineering aquaculture at the same time", "offshore aquaculture", "clean production", etc., and has made arduous and unremitting efforts to promote the implementation of China's strategy of developing the sea through science and technology.

As the son of a farmer and a member of the first generation of college students and graduate students in New China who was educated with the help of the People's Scholarship, Zhang Fusui focused his research on serving the country's economic development and helping coastal fishermen and farmers get out of poverty and become rich.

He died in Qingdao at 17:35 on February 9, 2016, at the age of 89. The funeral ceremony was held at 9:00 am on February 13 at the Qingdao Funeral Home.