Zhanjiang sits at the southern end of the Chinese mainland and the southwest of Guangdong province. It has the longest coastline among cities in Guangdong. The city lives off the sea and has a 20,000-square-kilometer sea area, a 2,043-kilometer coastline, more than 134 islands of various sizes and 490,000-hectare shallow beach. It enjoys abundant marine resources and aquatic products.

Zhanjiang has prominent marine resources. The city is determined to develop a marine economy, which has seen an annual growth of above 10 percent in the last three years. In 2013, the city’s ocean industry output hit 127.58 billion yuan ($20.51 billion). The marine economic aggregate is only second to Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong. The marine industry structure has been optimized, and coastal industry, marine oil and chemical sectors have seen rapid development. Port logistics also enjoyed strong development in 2013. Port cargo throughput reached 180 million tons and container throughput stood at 450,000 TEUs, up 5.4 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. Coastal tourism has seen desirable development. The city received 25.44 million tourists in 2013 and raked in 15.55 billion yuan in tourism income last year, up 13.6 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively. Fishery comprehensive competitiveness has also strengthened. Zhanjiang’s fishery sector’s gross output value stood at 43.37 billion yuan in 2013. Total aquatic product output reached 1.2 million tons and output value reached 15.48 billion yuan. The figures have increased by 12.5 percent, 3.2 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively.