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In the light of the bearing capacity of marine resources, China
adopts a policy of developing and utilizing them in a comprehensive
way, so as to promote the coordinated development of the marine
industries. In recent years China has made constant efforts to upgrade
the maritime fishing, transportation, salt-making and other traditional
industries. At the same time, it has spared no effort to develop
the industry of marine reproduction and mariculture, offshore oil
and gas, tourism, marine pharmaceuticals and other burgeoning industries.
It has actively explored new marine resources as far as possible,
and promoted the formation and development of some potential marine
industries, such as deep-water mining, comprehensive utilization
of seawater, and power generation with marine energy. In 1997 the
total output value of the major marine industries, including ocean
fishing, salt-making, the salt chemicals industry, marine transportation,
shipbuilding, offshore oil and gas, and tourism, topped 300 billion
yuan. As a result, these industries have become forces actively
promoting the development of China's economy as a whole.
China's ocean fishing industry has a long history steeped in experience.
In developing this sector, the country adheres to the principle
of ``speeding up the development of aquaculture, conserving and
rationally utilizing offshore resources, actively expanding deep-sea
fishing, emphasizing processing and circulation, and strengthening
legal administration.'' Since the mid-1980s, China's saltwater aquaculture
has developed rapidly, with a large increase in species and expansion
of breeding areas. The output of such products rose from 1.926 million
tons in 1987 to 7.91 million tons in 1997, with their proportion
in the total output of the maritime harvest rising from 27 percent
to 36 percent. In accordance with the actual conditions of marine
fisheries resources, China has actively readjusted the structure
of this sector, made efforts to conserve and rationally utilize
off-shore fisheries resources, and actively exploited new resources
and fishing grounds, so as to make the fishing industry constantly
adapt to the changes in the structure of marine resources. In 1997
the total output of China's ocean fishing industry came to 13.854
million tons. While expanding deep-sea fishing and international
fishing cooperation, China adheres strictly to relevant international
maritime laws, pays full attention to protection of the eco-environment
and, in the light of the principle of ``equality, mutual benefit,
rational development of the exploitable resources, and abstention
from infringement on the interests of other countries,'' actively
develops fishing cooperation with relevant countries and regions,
in order to jointly expand the fishing economy. Since the 1980s,
China has established cooperative fishing relations with more than
30 countries and regions.
China attaches great importance to the protection of marine fisheries
resources, and has adopted various measures to conserve such resources
so as to guarantee the implementation of a sustainable marine development
strategy. It has done this by instituting various closed fishing
seasons, closed fishing areas, marine sanctuaries and moratorium
systems, banning harmful fishing gear and methods, and restricting
the size of net meshes and the proportion of young fish. In 1979
China began to adopt a fishing permit system to curb reckless fishing,
and in 1987 the country began to control fishing boats' horsepower.
Since 1995 China has practiced a new midsummer moratorium system--every
year during July and August fishing is banned in the sea areas north
of 27 degrees north latitude. The new system has achieved encouraging
economic, ecological and social results, and from this year the
midsummer moratorium area will be expanded to 26 degrees north latitude
and its duration will be lengthened to three months. China attaches
great importance to the marine reproduction and the reproduction
of fisheries resources, and has always insisted on the marine reproduction
and releasing of prawns and other species, a measure which has achieved
positive results.
As far back as in the 1960s China began to explore and exploit
offshore oil and gas resources on its own. In the 1980s it started
to absorb foreign capital and technology to develop this industry
in cooperation with foreign companies. In exploiting offshore oil
and natural gas, China follows the policy of placing equal stress
on oil and gas, with the balance inclined slightly toward gas, combining
domestic exploration and exploitation with cooperation with foreign
companies, and integrating upstream and downstream. As a result,
great progress has been made. By the end of 1997 China had signed
131 contracts and agreements with 67 oil companies from 18 countries
and regions and imported a total capital of close to six billion
US dollars for this industry. At the same time, more than 100 structures
with oil and gas had been discovered, and 1.7 billion tons of oil
reserves and 350 billion cu m of natural gas had been found. Twenty
oil and gas fields are under development. With an offshore oil and
natural gas industry in place, in 1997 China's offshore oil output
exceeded 16.29 million tons, and its natural gas output stood at
four billion cu m.
China has worked out a policy of utilizing its deep-sea waters
and coastal resources in a rational way. According to the policy,
priority shall be given to the construction of harbors in deepwater
coastal areas, and vigorous efforts will be made to develop marine
transportation. Significant achievements have been attained in marine
transportation development since the founding of New China, especially
since the implementation of reform and opening to the outside world.
By the end of 1997, merchant ships had increased to 320,000 with
a total deadweight tonnage of close to 50 million, of which more
than 23 million were of the fleets in foreign trade transportation.
Harbor construction and marine transportation in China are based
on the planning concept of constructing major waterways, harbor
hubs and water transport support system. China will put special
efforts into the construction of specialized berths for bulk goods
such as containers, coal, oil, ore and grain, set up collection
and distribution channels in the rear, speed up the establishment
of a modern loading-unloading-hauling system, and construct a container
transport system with advanced freight-handling technologies and
featuring a combination of trunk lines with branch lines while strengthening
the technical transformation of old harbors to improve their handling
capacity and efficiency. At present, China has 15 harbors each with
an annual handling capacity of more than 10 million tons. In 1997
the volume of freight handled by the country's major coastal harbors
totaled 905 million tons. In recent years China's coastal shipbuilding
industry has shown a trend of rapid development, and in 1997 China's
shipbuilding tonnage ranked third in the world.
China's marine tourism development policy features relying on the
coastal cities, stressing marine characteristics, and developing
it region by region and sector by sector. In recent years, the coastal
areas have created more than 300 marine and island tourism and recreational
zones, with a variety of marine features. Marine tourism is now
a burgeoning industry. In 1997 this sector received more than 10
million overseas tourists.
China was one of the world's pioneers in making salt from seawater.
Some of China's new industries are associated with this aspect of
marine resources development and exploitation: salt, salt chemicals,
direct seawater utilization and seawater desalination. With an area
of 430,000 ha, China's salt pans produced 29.281 million tons of
raw salt in 1997. The major salt chemical products are potassium
chloride, bromide, anhydrous nitre and magnesium chloride. The annual
output of potassium chloride and bromide each exceeds 500,000 tons.
In addition, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Yantai, Qinhuangdao and other
coastal cities are now making efforts to use more seawater directly
as industrial chilled water and non-potable water, which is of great
significance for alleviating China's serious shortage of freshwater
resources.
The Chinese government has listed the exploration and exploitation
of the mineral resources of the Pacific Ocean as a long-term development
project for which it intends to offer special investment. Meanwhile,
it has established a special institution in charge of coordinating
and administering China's exploratory and exploitative activities
in the international seabed region. China is the fifth-largest investor
in international efforts for seabed development, and has obtained
an exclusive exploration and development area of 75,000 sq km. In
the future, China will continue to actively participate in the administration
and development of international seabed areas, and develop new exploration
and exploitation technologies to make its due contribution to the
peaceful utilization of international seabed resources for the benefit
of the whole of mankind.
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