China to Put More Efforts in Marine Industry

China will give a major boost to its marine industry in the 21st century, said Chen Lianzeng, vice director of the State Oceanic Administration in Zhanjiang November 25. He said it was a priority to work out a series of related laws now, such as regulations on coastal area and island development and protection,in order to jack up the sector.

The 21st century will be a new era for mankind to get to know, make good use of and protect the oceans. China's focus of marine resources protection will be put into the fishing industry, mangrove and coral reef, said Chen.

Twelve academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and experts in marine industry attended the seminar on South China Sea marine resources exploitation in Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong Province.

China's land resources will not be able to satisfy the needs of the national economy and social development. Marine resources will then be a good supplement.

Statistics show that the country's per capita farmland is only some 0.067 hectares, much lower than the world's average level, and the back-up farmland is only 13.3 million hectares for the country with a population of about 1.3 billion.

China is now actively participating in international oceanic exploration, polar land investigation and efforts in protecting oceanic creatures around the globe, trying to make a better use of the mineral resources and fish in the open sea area.

Chen pointed out the country would choose the coastal areas with a comparatively strong oceanic economic basis to develop ways to utilize sea water, oceanic chemistry and pharmaceuticals and marine environmental protection.

China's marine industry has made great progress in the past few decades, expanding from only the fishing industry before to comprehensive structure with oil and gas exploitation, aquatic industry and coastal tourism. The total output value in these areas increased by five times to over 365 billion yuan (about 43.8 billion U.S. dollars ) in 1999 compared to that of the 1980s.

Marine Economy Fair Opens in Zhanjiang

China's " 2000 Marine Economy Fair," opens November 25 in Zhanjiang, the largest port city along the coast of Beibu Gulf in south China's Guangdong Province.

More than 5,300 business items are to be presented at this fair, and the total value of the contracts signed so far has reached 6 billion yuan (about 720 million US dollars ), 4.1 billion yuan of which comes from investment, and 2.1 billion yuan from trade items.





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