Coastal areas of Shandong to spearhead sector development

The oceans have often played an important role in shaping the history and charting the destiny of nations. But in modern times the oceans have taken on a different hue with a strong blue (marine) economy holding the promise of steady and sustained economic growth. China, despite its vast huge coastal resources, has never been able to gain significant economic advantage from them due to its heavy reliance on land resources. Realizing the importance, China has decided to boost its marine economy in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). The marine economy has till recently included sectors like shipping, fishing, aquaculture and oil and gas. However, in recent times the definition has been widened to include other sectors like marine chemistry, biomedicine, ocean power, seawater use, ocean engineering and construction, and marine tourism.

There is no doubt that China possesses abundant marine resources along its 3 million sq km of offshore waters and 32,000 kilometers of coastline. The nation has proven marine oil reserves of around 24.6 billion tons and natural gas reserves of over 1.6 billion cubic meters.

"China has recognized that it needs to turn to the oceans for further development of its economy," said Michael O`Toole, program manager of Sea Change Management at the Marine Institute of Ireland. O`Toole has a long history of working in China and has worked with the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute in Qingdao for over 15 years on a United Nations Development Program project.

"The oceans are strategically important to China. Its future development potential lies in the oceans which if sustainably developed will help solve employment problems and also address the issue of raw material shortages thereby spurring economic activity," O`Toole said.

As part of its plans to boost the marine economy, the government has decided to set up pilot economic zones in the coastal provinces of Shandong, Zhejiang and Guangdong.

The Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone was the first area to be brought under the government`s marine economy agenda, followed by Zhejiang and most recently Guangdong.

That the marine economy has immense potential can be gauged from the available data that indicate the oceanic sector in China recorded annual growth rates of over 13 percent to reach 3.8 trillion yuan ($594.7 billion) in 2010.

By current estimates, the marine economy accounts for around 10 percent of China`s total gross domestic product (GDP), and is poised for further growth, said Han Limin, a marine economy professor at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao.

"China still has a long way to go compared with Western countries in boosting its marine economy, especially in areas which demand cutting-edge technology and high-end machinery," Han said.

O`Toole, however, feels that unless environmental challenges are handled properly, China will continue to lag its Western counterparts in the marine economy.

That statement finds credence in the fact that most of the coastal waters in China are heavily polluted, with the pollutants often triggering harmful algal blooms that stifle the marine ecosystem.

"If China has to take full advantage of the oceans as a source of food, energy and minerals for its people, it also needs to develop a new policy for its marine sector," Han said.
Shandong province

For a province which has a rich history and a long tradition in maritime development, China`s decision to spur its blue economy does not come as a surprise.

Shandong had in the 1990s itself realized the importance of marine resources in its economic growth and chalked out a plan to base its development on the sector.
 
An iron ore port in Rizhao, East China`s Shandong province. The marine related industry contributed nearly 18 percent to the province`s GDP. Chen Weifeng / for China Daily "Our national economic plan used to focus largely on the development of land resources," said Fei Yunliang, head of the construction office for the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone, after the zone got government approval in January this year.

"The zone is part of China`s first national marine strategy and sets the new trend for economic development," Fei said.

The economic zone covers all the offshore waters in Shandong province with an area of 159,500 sq km. It also covers 64,000 sq km of land that includes six cities - Qingdao, Dongying, Yantai, Weifang, Weihai and Rizhao - and two coastal counties in Shandong.

According to Fei, Shandong is aiming to build its primary marine industries such as ocean farming, secondary industries such as marine equipment manufacturing and new energy, and tertiary industries such as tourism.

Cheng Shenbao, president, Qingdao Electronics and Information School, is one of the entrepreneurs in Shandong who is watching the sector closely. Buoyed by the new zone, Cheng plans to launch ocean-related programs in his school soon.

"The founding of the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone offers a good opportunity for us to update the school courses and renew our school`s development strategy," Cheng said.

Equipping students with aquaculture skills will be a dramatic change for Cheng`s school, which has decades of history of nurturing skilled workers in the mechanical electronic industry.

Shandong peninsula, with a coastline of more than 3,000 km, ranks the second in China by the turnover of its marine sector. The marine related industry generated 604 billion yuan in 2009, and contributed nearly 18 percent to Shandong`s GDP.

Apart from the edges brought by nature, Shandong also has some other advantages that will allow the province to take the lead in the blue economic wave.

The province is home to 40 percent of China`s marine scientists. More than half of the national oceanic scientific research programs and many ocean research institutions are located in Qingdao, a coastal city in East China`s Shandong province that also hosted the 2008 Olympic sailing events.

"We will utilize our scientific research advantage to the hilt," Xia Geng, mayor of Qingdao, said in a recent interview.

However, the number of elite ocean experts who master cutting-edge technologies are sparse in China.

By current counts, fewer than 100 Chinese scholars can be tracked on the world`s ocean expert database. The number is lower than 1 percent of the global total, and accounts for just 5 percent of the experts in the United States, according to statistics from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China.

It is not that Shandong is not aware of these shortcomings. Qingdao, which has the most talents in the marine sector in China, has turned to the overseas market, to build itself as the silicon valley of China`s marine economy.

The Qingdao Foreign Experts Bureau has managed to get 30 experts from abroad to work in the city. "Our ocean experts are keen to work for research organizations, as only few of them are able to transfer their academic achievement into business ventures," Yao Jihua, head of the bureau, said.

"All the 30 experts from overseas are in Qingdao not only with their subject knowledge but also with projects, which can turn into products very soon," he said, adding his bureau will continue making efforts to invite top-notch experts to work in the city.

By Meng Jing (China Daily)