Inside China’s Desert Fish Farms: The Xinjiang Aquaculture Boom

China’s Xinjiang region now hosts over 1,000 desert fish farms producing roughly 200,000 tonnes of seafood annually, driven by underground aquifers mimicking seawater. This arid aquaculture boom intersects with global seafood supply chains, including South Africa, which imported over $30-million in seafood from China in 2025.

Xinjiang is a land of unforgiving extremes. Barely six inches of rain fall every year across its 600,000 square miles. At its southwest border stands K2, the second-highest mountain in the world at 28,251 feet. The Taklamakan Desert takes up a huge swath of the province, featuring shifting dunes topping 600 feet. Less than 10% of Xinjiang has ever been fit for human habitation, home mostly to nomadic herdsmen finding refuge around mountaintop oases.

Engineering the Frontier Economy

Following the 1949 revolution, central Chinese authorities reimagined Xinjiang as a valuable holding to be exploited. Beginning in the 1950s, government geologists discovered oil and gas in the Tarim, Junggar, and Tuha basins, turning Xinjiang into the western anchor of the West-East Gas Pipeline. At the same time, the state re-engineered the Tarim River, building reservoirs and lined canals to turn dry soil into farmable land.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) handled the human project of creating a workforce. Founded in 1954 to develop and protect frontier regions, the XPCC functions as a Chinese military corporate entity comprising former soldiers repurposed as economic pioneers. Over the past decade, the XPCC has seized more than half a million acres in Xinjiang for cotton, fruit farming, and solar fields, while helping the government relocate more than 10% of Xinjiang’s population through labour transfers.

Transforming Subterranean Salt Waters

During early oil drilling operations beneath the Taklamakan Desert, teams frequently encountered underground aquifers. Researchers knew the desert had once been connected to an ancient ocean, leaving behind coral fragments, plankton, and salty soil. Initial tests showed the underground water was too salty for farming and too bitter for human consumption.

Chinese scientists eventually realized these subterranean waters could be adjusted to mimic seawater. In March 2024, Qiemo County Shishixian Aquatic Products established a fish farm spanning approximately eight acres on the southeastern border of the Taklamakan Desert. The facility raises golden pomfret, grouper, and mullet in two outdoor ponds and an indoor greenhouse containing 68 tanks.

Other enterprises expanded this model across the region. Ili Yueran Ecological Agriculture operates a 60-acre fish farm in western Xinjiang, raising shrimp and carp.

The Global Seafood Trade Nexus

The rise of high-altitude and desert aquaculture represents an engineered shift in global food production. In 2025, South Africa imported more than $30-million worth of seafood from China, integrating remote desert-farmed yields into international markets. Investigations by groups like The Outlaw Ocean Project have mapped these desert sites, highlighting how farmed goods reach international buyers, including facilities in the United States subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

Facility / Company	Location	Operation Details
Qiemo County Shishixian Aquatic Products	Southeastern Taklamakan Desert	Roughly 8-acre farm, raises golden pomfret, grouper, and mullet in 68 tanks.
Ili Yueran Ecological Agriculture	Western Xinjiang	60-acre farm stocked with shrimp and carp, operational since 2015.
Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture	Northern Xinjiang	Managed profit distribution ceremonies and local investor loans totaling $1-million.

Aquaculture now accounts for more than half of all seafood consumed globally. While nations like India produce roughly 11 million metric tonnes of farmed fish annually and Bangladesh utilizes fish farming to lower household prices, China’s inland desert adaptation pushes the geographical boundaries of the industry. As subterranean extraction meets global trade demands, the environmental and economic costs continue to ripple outward from Central Asia’s starkest frontiers.