China is a large marine economy country and has rich marine biology, harbor, transport, offshore oil and natural gas and coastal tourism resources.[1]
China's ocean-related industrial economic output reached 1.39 trillion yuan (202.96 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2009 according to the State Oceanic Administration (SOA). It represented a rise of 6.9 percent over the same period last year, accounting for 9.91 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Initiatives by local governments in coastal areas to develop ocean-related industries were the main contributing factor to the growth. In many coastal regions, funds and tax breaks were given to enterprises in ocean-related industries.Shandong Province rolled out a plan in May to build China's biggest ocean chemical products base by 2011. Haikou, capital of southern Hainan Province, has allocated 11 million yuan to support the development of fish-farm industry this year.
Some coastal governments, including Guangdong and Hainan provinces, have signed agreements with the nation's oil explorers and refiners to develop offshore oil and natural gas facilities. GOP is a component of a nation's GDP, reflecting development of ocean-related industries, including oil and gas production, fisheries, tourism and maritime transport. GOP increased by 11 percent year on year to hit 2.97 trillion yuan in 2008, accounting for 9.87 percent of the country's GDP.
The total GDP from China's ocean industry reached RMB1.324 trillion yuan in the first half of 2008, grew by 14.4% over the same period last year. This accounted for 10.14% of the nation's Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Gross output value of the ocean industry arrived at as much as CNY 2.97 trillion in China in 2008, accounting for 9.7% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) in the year
The report also included figures for the marine economy's development from 2001 to 2005, saying that the output value of marine industries increased at an annual rate of 18% from 930 billion yuan in 2001 to 1.8 trillion yuan in 2005.
Marine industries have been assuming an increasingly important position in the Chinese economy. Statistics from the administration indicate the total marine output value of the country reached 1,700 billion yuan (US$205.3 billion) between 1996 and 2000, 2.5 times the output from the previous five-year period.
There are 13 major marine industries in China, such as oceanic fishery, seaside tourism, oceanic transport, oceanic oil and gas exploitation, sea sands exploitation, shipping, oceanic engineering and oceanic biomedicine. The so-called marine economy usually covers such sectors as fishing, sea transportation, ports, the salt-making industry, sea-related tourism and shipbuilding. marine industries, including fishing, transport, oil and gas exploitation, tourism and shipbuilding In the new accounting process, the output value of ocean-related industries and marine education, research and development, management and service have been added to the traditional economy of oceanic industries, Wang said.
commercial fishing, marine petroleum, marine chemistry and marine-based pharmaceuticals
As for the marine industries, said the programme, they include ocean fisheries, ocean communication and transport, ocean oil and gas, seaside tourism, ocean shipping, marine bio-medicine, sea water utilization and salt production.
marine electronics, marine environmental protection and surveillance
In 2001, China is drafting the country's first ever development program for the marine economy
all coastal provincial regions, as well as related departments such as agriculture and transportation, will submit their 10-year sea-related blueprints before November
"The ultimate goal of the program is to push the progress of the marine economy and encourage coastal regions to develop economies suited to their own conditions and with their own characteristics," said Wei. China has a 32,000-kilometre-long coastline and conditions vary in different regions.
Wang Fei, spokesman for the State Oceanographic Administration, said the new programme will consolidate the exploration of marine resources, improve the economic layout of coastal areas and facilitate industrial structural adjustment, all of which will in turn make the marine economy the country's new economic growth point.
China has more than 4 million square kilometers of sea area, and more than 1,400 harbors and 210,000 cargo ships.
The main pillar supporting the rapid growth of the marine economy was the development of a regional economy along the coastline.
There has been a strengthening of the capability of China's harbors, and the country now has half of the world's top 20 international facilities.
The marine industry employs more than 35 million people in the country.
China is a big maritime state, and its coast spreads along 18,000 kilometres. It has more than 5,000 islands dominating 3 million square kilometres of sea area. It also housed more than 20,000 different species of sea creature. The continental shelf contains more than 15 billion tons of petroleum reserves and is rich in other mineral resources. (chinadaily.com.cn)
three major marine economic zones edit
Regions edit
The country has earmarked eight coastal regions to spearhead a concerted growth effort that seeks to balance development and ecological protection.
CHINA will place the marine and ocean economy high on the agenda of its next five-year development plan (2011-2015).
China’s macroeconomy management agency, the Chinese National Development and Reform Commis-sion (NDRC), declared this at the inaugural Qingdao International Blue Economy Summit on Aug 10-12 in the beautiful coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong province.
Every five years, China will come up with a masterplan to guide the country through further economic development. The current five-year plan will expire next year.
NDRC vice-chairman Du Ying said utilising the marine resources would address issues of limited land resource, population boom and environment protection.
Developing the marine economy would be in compliance with the global trend of the development of human beings and creation of a harmonious society, he said.
China’s marine economy account for about three trillion yuan (RM1.56 trillion), some 10% of the total national GDP.
Its initial marine economy development plan will see eight of its coastal regions, such as the Yangtze River Delta, Bohai Ring, Yellow River Delta and Pearl River Delta, become new growth areas.
In April, Chinese President Hu Jintao had called on the Shandong provincial government to take the lead to develop the marine industry and establish a Shandong Peninsular Blue Economic Zone.
The province will be at the forefront of establishing a marine economic and technological development district, marine research and development centre and marine ecological protection area.
“When China talks about plans for a marine economic zone, it doesn’t mean that it will approve more manufacturing and shipbuilding plants or vessels that generate a high level of emission,” Du said.
“These are tapping into the most primitive resources of civilisation, but not ready to be exploited. We will create a balance between blue economic development and marine ecological protection.
“We will stringently control pollutants from high pollution industries that go into the sea and improve our disaster management in order to attain a sustainable development.
“We believe that through concerted efforts, by 2020, China will reach an important milestone and Shandong will be a demonstration province, an advanced manufacturing and R&D base for other provinces.”
Fear of further damage to the marine ecology is not unfounded. Much of the more than 380,000 sq km of water under China’s sovereignty is polluted.
Recent studies by the State Oceanic Administration showed that 83% of sea areas in China were affected by eutrophication, a process in which water bodies receive excess nutrients that contribute to excessive plant growth, such as algae and nuisance plant weeds.
Some experts say it is a result of climate change and heavy rain, while environmentalists believe that algae blooms are largely due to sewage and pollutant run-off.
According to researches several years ago, heavily-polluted areas included Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, the Yangtze River and Pearl River estuaries, Hangzhou Bay and coastal areas in Jiangsu province.
To address the marine pollution problem, the China Marine Safety Administration (MSA) under the Transport Ministry has tightened management of the shipping industry, which has been blamed for the increasing incidences of oil spillage and leakage.
The MSA has about 28,000 officials and personnel, and a patrol force of about 1,300 vessels monitoring various locations along the polluted coastline, rivers and waterways. They respond to oil spill emergencies and investigate pollution cases.
Lawmakers have also made it clearer to shippers and fishermen which types of objects are considered as pollutants, and have required them to install pollution prevention equipment on their vessels.
China has established a closer regional cooperation with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and South-East Asian countries to protect their respective water territories.
Unesco Intergovernmental Ocea-nographic Commission (IOC) chairman Javier Valladares acknowledged at the summit that China had emphasised scientific research on marine development in recent years.
“I know the Chinese leaders understand the priorities needed to be given to marine ecology protection, but I would like to share with you something critical discussed in international forums,” he said.
“In the IOC, we have the Global Oceanic Observing System, which is instrumental in collecting data and monitoring climate change, especially in oceans, he said.
Valladares said the system was needed because 40% of the world’s population lived in coastline areas and waste was discharged into waters and open oceans that fell under the jurisdiction of no one country.
“We need to build human capital and encourage young people to work in marine education, science and technology. It’s good to know that Shandong has more than 10,000 marine researchers and scientists,” he added.
As the basic framework of Shandong Peninsular Blue Economic Zone is slated to be ready in 2015, the provincial government will continue to seek expert views and advice on how to make the zone more sustainable.
The marine economy in the province will be based upon its fishery, shipping, salt processing, bio-pharmaceutical, oceanic engineering, new energy exploration, tourism and marine transportation, and logistics industries.
Marine resources edit
China boasts abundant marine resources. Scattered in the offshore waters are sedimentation basins, with a total area of nearly 700,000 square km, estimated to contain about 24 billion tons of oil reserves and 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Fishing grounds in China's territorial seas cover 2.8 million square km. There are 2.6 million hectares of shallow seas, with a depth of 20 meters or below, suitable for aquaculture, of which 710,000 hectares have already been used for this purpose. Of the 2.42 million hectares of tidal lands suitable for aquaculture, 550,000 hectares have been used for the purpose. China has obtained an exclusive exploration and development area of 75,000 square km, rich in polymetallic nodule deposits, in the international seabed region, with polymetallic nodule reserves exceeding 500 million tons.
Salt fields edit
China now has more than 50 salt fields along its coast, with a combined acreage of 337,000 hectares. Sea salt constitutes over 70 percent of China's total production of crude salt.
Marine energy utilization edit
Marine energy utilization China's tidal energy reserves amount to 110 million kw, 21 million kw of it being exploitable, which can be used to generate 58 billion kwh of power annually. Having larger tidal ranges, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces account for 80 percent of the nation's total coastal tidal energy resources. The Qiantangjiang estuary in Zhejiang has a tidal range of 8.9 meters and is an ideal place for a tidal power plant.
Industrial Research Organizations edit
The State Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration will jointly establish a special office to promote a national campaign aimed at developing the country's marine economy.
- State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao
- National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center under the State Oceanic Administration
- National Marine Information Center (Tianjin)
- China Ocean Information Network
- Chinese Society of Oceanography (CSO)
- South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS
- Ocean University of China
- Guangdong Ocean University
- Shanghai Ocean University
- Zhejiang Ocean University
- Shanghai Maritime University
- Dalian Maritime University
- Center for Studies of Marine Economy and Sustainable Development at Liaoning Normal University InfoNet
- The Swire Institute of Marine Science, Hong Kong University
- Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute for Ocean engineering
International edit
Ocean energy edit
Asia's first tidal energy power station built in Zhejiang 01 January 1970 (www.ca800.com) -- A 40 kW tidal energy power station, the first in Asia, begins to generate electricity in Daishan county. Total investment in this station is RMB18b. The United Nations...[2]
China has a history of 40 years in development of tidal energy (tidal power). So far, China has set up 8 tidal power stations with a total installed capacity of 6120KW, of which, the biggest is the Jiangxia tidal experiment power station in Zhejiang Province, with an installed capacity of 3200KW, operated in 1980, and five generating plants connected to grid in 1985. China can manufacture the bulb cross-flow-type hydroelectric generating sets with single machine capacity of 500KW and 700 kW. Practice has proved that China has a sound foundation of tidal power (tidal energy) generating technology.
The development and research on wave energy (wave power) in the world has appeared rising tendency in recent years after 1970s' flourishing and 1980s' low ebb. The characteristics are to pay attention to construction of installations and accumulation of maritime operation experience. The stress was to turn the small and medium size development from the very beginning to large-scale utilization, and to supply of power to islands. Wave power generation in China began in 1970s. Micro wave-power generating installations for sunlight navigation lights have become commercialized and 290 sets have been produced. Cooperating with Japan, China has also manufactured back-bent-tube buoy power generating sets. The first 3 kW generating set of the seashore fixed-type wave power station was successfully manufactured in Dawan Island at the mouth of the Pearl River.
The research on tidal current power generation in China was in the leading position. At the end of 1970s, China first made a principle experiment of the 8KW tidal current power generating set. During the 1980s, experiment and research have been carrying out on the vertical-shaft self-regulation straight- vane hydroelectric generating sets.
China has set some objects for the development of tidal power, for instance, 1. Settle key technical problems for setting up ten thousand kilowatt grade tidal power stations. 2. Manufacture hundred kilowatt grade wave power generating sets combining with the construction of experiment bases with comprehensive development and utilization of the new resources in islands. 3. Research and development on practical utilization technology of ocean-energy.
In 2001, Chinese oceanologists called for the utilization on a larger scale of tidal energy. It said it was not suitable for taking a big proportion of the country's energy structure, but as a supplement to regular energy, it should be further tapped. The deficiency of simulative measures and favorable policies has checked investors' enthusiasm for developing this energy calling for equal favorable offers to the development of tidal energy as tapping wind and solar energy. Such measures as tax cuts and subsidies in electricity fees may attract more investors. Investigations have shown that there are quite a few sites along the coastal areas in China fit for constructing 10,000-KW-class tidal energy stations.
In 2004, The Chinese government signed an agreement with UK-based Tidal Electric[3] for a renewable energy tidal power project near the mouth of the Yalu river. At 300 MW, the project would be the largest tidal power project in the world, according to the developers, topping the capacity of the 240 MW French tidal power plant in LaRance.[4]
China’s first ever tidal power plant was brought on stream in Zhejiang province in January. With generating capacity of just 40kW, the project is largely experimental in focus and was developed by Harbin Engineering University and Daishan Technology Bureau. A second 150kW Chinese project has secured funding from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and a raft of other ventures are being considered, as part of the Chinese government’s new found enthusiasm for renewable energy.
The Yalu river tidal project is particularly ambitious. British firm Tidal Electric is currently carrying out a feasibility study into the venture and the proposed 300MW generating capacity would outstrip even the South Korean Sihwa scheme. It is hoped that locating the scheme 1km offshore will avoid many of the environmental problems encountered by existing tidal power projects, most of which employ tidal barrage technology.
First international joint venture company for tidal current energy exploration has been established in China in November, 2006. The JV company will implement a project supported by UNIDO; the partners are Ponte di Archimede, PdA, Italy and Daishan Gaoting Shipyard, DSS, China.
A pre-design tool for the performance analysis of vertical axis variable-pitched tidal stream hydro turbine, VAPHT, has been presented up to 2006 by HEU. Its code is based on the modified stream tube models and the vortex-panel model and still in validation through the model test and prototype machine.
“Wanxiang-II” 40kW tidal current prototype plant. Weight in air 60 ton. The electric power output is used for a light tower near a bridge. Wave energy 50 kW onshore oscillating wave power buoy with 3 pumps with a capacities of 10kW, 20kW and 40kW
In 2005, the Ocean Energy Division at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion developed the world's first experimental wave power station at sea near Shanwei City, in south China's Guangdong Province.[5]
In March 2008, a Chinese Ocean Energy Association was formed in Hangzhou to disseminate information and arrange meetings for its members and for those interested in wave energy.
Ocean Energy Division edit
Ocean Energy Division at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion
Science and technology edit
Science and technology will propel the marine economy over the next five to 10 years, a plan released said on Thursday.
The State Oceanic Administration released the national scheme to promote the use of scientific innovation to boost China's oceanic industries from 2008-15.
"It is the first guideline in China to highlight R&D in the growth of the marine economy," said the administration's director Sun Zhihui.
"In the next five to 10 years, hi-tech oceanic businesses will become a pillar of the marine economy."
The most important oceanic technologies to develop relate to fishing, seawater use, biochemistry, farming, power generation, deep-sea exploration, ecological protection, marine oil and gas exploitation, and marine information.
Pilot projects of relevant technologies are on the horizon. The administration estimates about half of the results from these projects will be put into practical use by 2015.
The plan also identifies enterprises as the growth engines for relevant scientific research.
China has for a long time incorporated science and technology into the development of the marine economy, Sun said.
Successful examples include progress in desalination. By the end of 2007, China constructed 62 desalination facilities, capable of producing a total of 160,000 tons of fresh water per day.
When the country exported to Indonesia a set of its homespun desalination equipment - capable of producing 4,500 tons of fresh water daily - this year, it marked a breakthrough for the industry.
Incorporating science and technology in the marine economy's development is vital to national economic growth, Sun said.
See also: China’s Marine S&T Blueprint (2006)
See also edit
- Aquaculture in China
- Fishing industry in China
- Shipping industry in China
- List of places on the coastline of the People's Republic of China
- Baselines of the Chinese territorial sea
- China Maritime Safety Administration
- China Coast Guard
- China National Offshore Oil Corporation
Notes edit
- ^ Sustainable development of marine economy in China
- ^ http://www.chinaenergyupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/2638
- ^ http://www.tidalelectric.com/News%20China.htm
- ^ http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2004/11/china-endorses-300-mw-ocean-energy-project-17685
- ^ http://english.people.com.cn/200507/25/eng20050725_197978.html
References edit
- Develop Marine Economy and Protect Marine Environment, Yun Wang, August 2007, Ocean University of China
- Condition of China’s Marine Economic Development in 1998
- Dahai Zhang, Wei Lia and Yonggang Lina Wave energy in China: Current status and perspectives. State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, Zhejiang University, Hang Zhou, Zhejiang Province 310027, China Renewable Energy Volume 34, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 2089-2092
- Renewable energy – Partnership prospects for China and Scotland (China.org.cn April 10, 2009)- See also Renewable energy in Scotland.
- 2007-2008 Annual Report on the Development of China's Marine Industry
- Ocean tech improvements accelerating sector upgrading
- Carrying capacity of marine region in Liaoning Province
- An 11% increase in Chinese Marine Economy in 2008
- Investment Strategy and Forecast on China Marine bio-industry, 2009-2012
- Overall Survey of China's Offshore Condition Kicked off 2005-05-17
- Bulletin of Marine Resources 2008
External links edit
- http://www.newenergy.org.cn/ China New Energy Network
- Ocean Energy Division at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion
- China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association
- [1] Prospects of Ocean Energy Utilization in China
- http://www.ydeco.org/english/New%20Energy/Prospects%20of%20Ocean%20Energy%20Utilization%20and%20Proposals.htm
- [2] The Present Status of Ocean Energy Exploration in China