Fujian bets big on marine economy, from fish farming to ocean tech

Over the past three years, Fujian has been turbocharging its efforts to develop its marine economy as part of the country's 15th Five Year Plan, fusing traditional fisheries with large-scale investment in high-tech ocean industries.

Take a look.

Fujian province is a major producer of these large yellow croaker.

Depending on its size, the fish can fetch between 20 yuan and more than 100 yuan per half-kilogramme, making it an important source of income for fishermen in Ningde, Fujian.

In the 1980s, yellow croaker was once pushed to the brink of extinction because of overfishing.

Xi Jinping, then Party Secretary of Ningde, issued directives that helped pave the way for the successful development of artificial yellow croaker farming.

Today, the entire Sandu'ao of Ningde generates more than 20 billion yuan in annual output.

At this fish farm alone, around 30 tonnes of chilled yellow croaker are shipped to Hong Kong every day.

This food supplier from Sandu'ao says Ningde has favourable conditions for fish farming, including clear waters, natural shelters from storms and relatively stable water temperatures.

But operating offshore fish farms in the middle of the ocean presents another challenge: electricity supply.

A nearby energy storage system collects electricity generated from wind and solar power.

It can produce around 200 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day -- and can sidestep past problems from diesel generators such as safety risks and possible pollution to the sea.

Under the national 15th Five-Year Plan, the country aims to comprehensively develop its marine economy.

Three years ago, Xiamen was approved to establish the Marine High-Tech Industrial Park with the first batch of projects nearing completion.

Among the focuses is the development of deep-sea intelligent equipment and marine biomedicine, which extracts substances from marine organisms or resources for use in medicine and health products such as anti-aging skincare products.

The park also aims to collaborate more with some universities in Hong Kong to conduct related marine research.