Hotan County, located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has entered a harvest season for a variety of high-quality aquatic products. The products, including crabs, lobsters and sea bass, were bred in the technically treated saline-alkali water in the world's second-largest shifting sand desert. Over the past few years, local farmers have transformed the once-barren land into a thriving aquaculture base through scientific water diversion and soil improvement measures. Thanks to technologies such as salt and alkalinity reduction, freshwater circulation and probiotic regulation, the pH level of cultivation water has been stabilized within an optimal range, enabling the large-scale cultivation of aquatic products. At a breeding base in the county, workers are rowing small boats through the ponds to net crabs, with daily catches averaging around 500 kilograms. The crabs were put into the ponds in March and have grown up for harvest after seven months of culture. The aquaculture area in Hotan County currently exceeds 253 hectares, with total output exceeding 1,000 tonnes in the first half of this year. Shotlist: Hotan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Oct 24-26, 2025: 1. Various of aquaculture ponds in desert; workers rowing boats to collect aquatic products; 2. Various of crabs; 3. Various of workers collecting aquatic products; lobsters; 4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Lai Jun, employee, Hotan County Desert Aquaculture Base (partially overlaid with shots 5-6): "The crab production is estimated at around 40 tonnes this year, and the output of sea bass will be approximately 30 tonnes. The yield of blue lobsters might be slightly lower, at a few tonnes. We expect the total production to be over 70 tonnes." [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; 5. Sea basses; 6. Workers collecting lobsters [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; 7. Aerial shots of aquaculture base in desert. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]