The steel industrial base with a value of 100 billion yuan in Luoyuan Bay, Fuzhou, is under technological transformation and upgrading in a green way (Photo by You Yongjian)

Driving from the urban area of Fuzhou to the east, you can get to a small island, named Culu Island, in the Minjiang River estuary, where the program of “Hundreds for Ten Thousand” ecological aquaculture platform is under construction. According to an official from the Maritime Fuzhou Leading Group Office, “As one of the important ‘Maritime Fuzhou’ projects, Fuzhou plans to build 100 ‘Zhenyu’ series platforms within 3 years to promote the intelligent development of traditional aquaculture that fits the deep sea.”

When General Secretary Xi Jinping took charge in Fuzhou, he proposed the plan of developing “Maritime Fuzhou”. He noted that the advantage, opportunity, hope and development of Fuzhou all lie in the river and the sea.

Following General Secretary Xi’s guidance, Fuzhou has stuck to the blueprint he drawn by actively coordinating with national marine strategies, playing a leading role, strengthening the driving force of projects and improving supporting services. Efforts have been made to further develop marine economy, accelerate the development of “Maritime Fuzhou” at a higher starting point and take the baton to build a “blue cornucopia”.

Developing modern deep-sea fishery by transformation and upgrading

“This is the aquatic farm of large yellow croaker.” In Dinghai Bay, Lianjiang County, Fuzhou, Xu Fuan, the head of an aquaculture business was full of praise for the 2-year cooperation of pilot aquaculture with “Zhenyu No.1”.

In 2019, “Zhenyu No.1”, the country’s first green automatic rotating deep-sea platform for sea-fish was put into operation in Lianjiang, bringing the mechanized, intelligent and deep-sea transformations and exploration to solve two major pain points of Fujian Province, namely the lack of offshore breeding space and the poor capacity of breeding equipment to resist wind and waves.

Xu Fuan said that compared with offshore fishing rafts and cage culture, the large yellow croaker is raised in “Zhenyu No. 1” at a depth of 16 meters underwater, making it taste better and more popular in the market. Its price is about 3 times higher than the traditional breeding species.

Deep-sea aquaculture represents the direction of modern fishery development. The “Hundreds for Ten Thousand” program is another step taken by Fuzhou in exploring deep-sea aquaculture. Not only protecting the ecological environment, but conserving resources, the program will speed up the development of a sustainable and healthy marine fisheries and serve as a “deep-sea fleet” of mariculture in Fujian Province.

Successfully, Fuzhou (Lianjiang) National Distant-Water Fishery Base was approved, becoming the third national level distant-water fishery base. Relying on Mawei District and Yuanhong International Food Exhibition and Trading Center, Fuzhou National Backbone Cold Chain Logistics Base became the only approved national backbone cold chain logistics base in Fujian. “Zhenbao No. 1”, the country’s first deep-sea abalone mechanized farming platform, and “Fubao No. 1”, Fujian’s first local deep-sea aquaculture platform, have been put into use successively...All of those show Fuzhou’s ambition for a stronger self in marine fields.

Fuzhou actively transforms aquaculture from the traditional extensive type to the highly efficient ecological type, marine fishing from offshore to deep-sea, and aquatic product processing from primary to intensive, so as to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of modern fishery and boost the development momentum of blue economy.

Interconnecting harbor industries by cluster development

Not long ago, good news came from Jiangyin Gangcheng Economic Zone: the project of Sijia New Material Technology Industrial Park, with an investment of 5 billion yuan, officially landed there to build the world’s largest intelligent manufacturing base for space airtight new materials.

Not far from Sijia New Material Technology Industrial Park, the whole industrial chain project of Wanhua Chemical Group is advanced as planned. It is the largest chemical project introduced to Fuzhou in recent years and will build a most competitive industrial park with a global MDI project and leading TDI technology.

Sijia New Material Technology Industrial Park Phase I with a planning area of 300 mu (0.2 square kilometers), will take full advantage of PVC, MDI, TPU and other new chemical materials from Wanhua Chemical Fujian Industrial Park to develop an industrial chain of downstream terminal applications of new chemical materials.

Taking the lead in building chains and clusters, harbor industrial bases in Fuzhou are pooling strength to strive for ocean-oriented development. 

Fuqing City is developing its seven industrial chains and implementing seven major special projects to develop zones with a value of 100 billion yuan dedicated for new chemical materials. 

The project of Shenyuan New Material Phase II and others in Kemen Port Area, Lianjiang, are under rapid construction to become the world’s largest production base of the whole industrial chain of caprolactam. 

The product mix of the steel industry in the north shore of Luoyuan Bay and Songxia Metallurgy Industrial Base is being optimized at a faster rate.

Accelerating the development of emerging industries by innovation

Rows of white offshore wind turbines operate at full speed against the wind from the sea in Xinghua Bay, Fuqing.

Jointly invested and constructed by Three Gorges Group and Fuzhou City, Fujian Three Gorges Offshore Wind Power International Industrial Park is expected to achieve an annual output value of 15 billion yuan after reaching its designed yield, which will promote the manufacturing level and innovation capacity of China’s offshore wind power equipment.

In recent years, Fuzhou has deeply implemented the innovation-driven development strategy, and the development trend of marine emerging industries represented by high-end marine engineering equipment continues to improve. “High-tech blue” technology is becoming the driving force to activate marine economy.

The Hongdong Marine Biological Industrial Park with a total investment of 300 million yuan has been completed and put into operation, mainly used for research and development, production and testing for marine biological products.

As a national demonstration project for innovation in marine economy of the 13^th Five-Year Plan, the industrialized demonstration project of Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL) clinical infection testing kits has achieved mass production, accounting for nearly one third of the domestic market share of TAL.

The technology innovation service platform for high-value and high-quality marine biological utilization in Fuzhou University is becoming an “incubator” for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, promoting the strong rise of the marine emerging industry.

In constant pursuit of its blue dream, by focusing on the building of the National Marine Economy Development Demonstration Zone, Fuzhou’s output value of marine industry and output of aquatic products rank the first in China. The gross output value of marine economy of the city reached 268 billion yuan in 2019, realizing its marine economy development goal set in the 13^th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule. Fuzhou’s gross output value of marine economy made a new breakthrough in 2020, estimated to reach 285 billion yuan.

This year, Fuzhou will continue to expand and strengthen its marine economy. Fuzhou plans to cultivate more than 50 leading enterprises in the field of marine economy, implements over 100 key marine industry projects, and expedite the construction of Fuzhou (Lianjiang) National Distant-Water Fishery Base. Thus, Fuzhou strives to transform from a city of rich marine resources to a city of strong marine economy.

Source: Fuzhou News

Reporter: Yan Lanping, Xie Xingxing

Translation: the Secretariat