Last year, the economic output of the city's marine businesses was worth 468.5 billion yuan ($69.9 billion), an increase of 17.1 percent year-on-year. They accounted for more than 30 percent of the city's GDP. Their value has been growing at an average annual rate of more than 10 percent over the past five years.
The government of Qingdao estimates that by 2025, the city's marine businesses will grow at an average rate of more than 7 percent annually, and the added value of sea-related strategic emerging industries will increase by more than 8 percent on average annually.
Qingdao is home to 30 percent of China's sea-focused academicians, 40 percent of domestic, high-end sea-related research and development platforms and 50 percent of the nation's internationally leading marine technologies. It also hosts a large number of sea-related universities, national labs and institutions.
When President Xi Jinping visited Qingdao in June 2018, he called for building up a strong maritime country, urging solid efforts to develop the marine economy.
Guan Huashi, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, spoke with Xi about the research and development of new medicines using biological resources from the sea during that visit. Guan told Xi that his dream was to build China's "blue drugstore". Xi told Guan, "We share the same dream."
Guan added, "I have always kept in mind what President Xi told me and I have spared no effort in these years to speed up the development of the blue drugstore."
Qingdao's West Coast New Area, a national-level new area approved by the central government in 2014, is the center of R&D for China's blue drugstore, Guan said. It has the world's largest marine microbial database, along with the country's only marine drug testing center, where Guan's academic team is working with local companies in the development of sea-based biological medicines.
The West Coast New Area has used its plentiful marine resources and technological advantages to advance high-quality development, officials said. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the new area's marine businesses grew at an average annual rate of 14.4 percent, and accounted for 40 percent of the city's total marine business income and 10 percent of the total income of the province's marine industry.
The area is also home to the largest cluster of national-level marine fish farm pilot facilities, covering 6,630 hectares. Tests include the use of advanced technology with aquaculture.
"There are 280 cages on the surface of the sea, but we have only 20 workers responsible for raising about 28 million kilograms of fish throughout the year," said Xue Qinghai, manager of Luhaifeng Group, which runs one of the 14 national-level marine fish farm test facilities in the new area. "Intelligent operation has doubled breeding efficiency."
They also have placed a large number of artificial reefs on the sea floor to create advantageous conditions for marine life to live and reproduce, Xue said.
Local authorities have also taken other steps to improve the environment. Wooden walkways and pavilions have been built along the coast, creating a new sightseeing attraction. The Tangdaowan National Wetland Park in the West Coast New Area now attracts many rare birds, including red-crowned cranes, golden eagles, white-shouldered eagles and white-tailed sea eagles, especially when migratory species visit.
Earlier this year, the new area's Lingshan Island was recognized as China's first "minus carbon" island by the China Quality Certification Center, with－1,333 tons' equivalent of annual carbon emissions in 2020.The center said that in 2020, the island generated 5,668 tons of carbon dioxide, largely from energy consumption, agriculture and waste treatment, while the carbon sink from the island's forests would have removed 7,001 tons of greenhouse gases.
"This is the result of 35 years of continuous planting of trees and returning farmland to forest," said Jiang Xia, deputy director of the administrative committee of Lingshan Island Nature Reserve.
The administrative committee is planning to establish a carbon credit system on the island this year to encourage residents and tourists to be involved in more carbon mitigation, Jiang said.
