Marine economy expo highlights industry trends

SHENZHEN -- Requiring only four staffers to breed millions of fish, "Jinghai 001," a large deep-sea intelligent cage, became a hot star at the 2022 China Marine Economy Expo (CMEE) which concluded Saturday in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Equipped with intelligent monitoring, automatic feeding and robots capable of cleaning nets, the 68-meter-long, 68-meter-wide and 40-meter-high smart cage serves as a smart platform for breeding deep-sea aquatic animals, and has an annual capacity of 1,000 tonnes.

"There are 200 sensors in the cage. Also, its 'fish face recognition' system can monitor the number and growth status of fish in real-time," said Pan Xilu, strategy director of Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Limited, at the three-day expo.

According to Pan, the biggest difficulty with aquaculture lies in its unpredictability and uncontrollability. The stable aquatic data delivered by "Jinghai 001," however, will be of revolutionary significance.

"Jinghai 001" is an epitome of the high-quality development of China's marine industry. At the CMEE, examples of China's booming marine economy could be seen in wind, light, hydrogen, fishing, tourism and other fields, showing both a development trend in green innovation and deepening cooperation.

This accelerating marine technology innovation means that the structure of China's marine industry is being further optimized. In 2021, the added value of emerging marine industries doubled compared with that in 2015.

"Due to the complex and changeable characteristics of marine natural conditions, the development of marine economy entails a higher need for technology," said He Guangshun, director of the marine strategic planning and economics department in the Ministry of Natural Resources.

"The future development of the marine industry will be driven more by innovation," He said.

At the CMEE, green, low-carbon and environmentally friendly trends became another highlight of China's marine economy.

In the exhibition area of China International Marine Containers (Group) Co Ltd, new energy solutions such as wind power generation, photovoltaic power generation, tidal power generation and offshore hydrogen production proved eye-catching.

China State Shipbuilding Co Ltd showcased various types of "green ships" using electric, hybrid and clean energy, providing different types of energy-saving and environmentally friendly shipping solutions.

More than 1,000 exhibitors from home and abroad participated in this year's expo, both online and offline, displaying their latest technologies, products and equipment.

Government officials, executives and experts from over 10 countries discussed the development trend of the global marine industry, technological frontiers and other hot issues in the marine field during this event.

"China will deeply participate in maritime governance, vigorously promote global cooperation in key areas, and actively contribute to building a maritime community with a shared future," He said.