[Photo/WeChat account: sd_photo]

"Shandong is a major province of marine science and technology. More than half of the high-end marine personnel are in Shandong. About 60 percent of the state-level sea-related projects are in the province. However, Shandong still lags in offshore equipment and the development of deep sea facilities compared with advanced provinces," said Xu Maobo, a CPPCC member and vice president of the provincial Association of Science and Technology.

He pointed out that Shandong should enhance its strengths and make up its shortcomings, and pay more attention to the training of engineering and industrialized personnel. Meanwhile, it should promote Qingdao's leading role to improve the level of marine science and technology in the province and promote the development of marine economy through technological innovation.

According to CPPCC member Da Lianglong, Qingdao has accumulated certain advantages in marine science and technology innovation, port construction and marine tourism.

He suggested enhancing core competitiveness of the marine industry, promoting cooperation among marine scientific research institutes and building a demonstration area for marine science and technology industries.

Hou Yiyun, a distinguished researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that it is necessary to promote the pilot transformation of marine scientific and technological achievements. It is an important step in accelerating the progress of marine science and technology and promoting the transformation to a high-quality and efficient marine economy.

"At present, the patent conversion rate of universities in our country is generally lower than five percent and the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements is only about 10 percent. Only when the results are translated into productivity can we realize their economic and social values," said Hou.

He suggested setting up a national pilot transformation platform for marine science and technology in Qingdao relying on Shandong's natural advantages in marine basic research and technological innovation.

No matter how rich marine resources are, if the construction of a healthy marine ecology is ignored the development of the marine economy is bound to be hindered. CPPCC members said that while marine economy is developing rapidly, marine ecology is facing pressures and challenges.

"Protecting the environment means protecting productivity. Improving the environment means developing productivity. To speed up the development of the marine economy, we must strengthen the governance of marine environment and ecological protection," Hou added.

He noted that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China's total investment in the restoration of marine ecology exceeded 110 billion yuan ($17.3 billion). It is urgent to build a green and sustainable marine ecological environment.　

In his view, there is a lot of work to be done to strengthen the governance of marine environment and ecological protection, including the demarcation of the ecological red line in the coastal area of Shandong Peninsula, the evolution of the offshore geological environment and the evolution of the ecosystem, the prevention and control of disasters, the improvement of the saline-alkali soil in the Yellow River Delta and the protection of wetlands, and the efficient and safe exploitation of offshore mineral resources with Shandong characteristics.

Law enforcement and management departments should enhance cooperation on governance and protection to achieve a seamless connection.

"The coastline of Shandong province is 3024.4 kilometers long. The total output of aquatic products is 9.5 million tons, including 6.56 million tons of aquatic products,” said CPPCC member Mai Kangsen.

In his opinion, Shandong is already at the national leading level in aquaculture.

He said that Ocean University of China and Rizhao Wanzefeng Fisheries Co have developed China's first scientific research and demonstration ship for cold water aquaculture. They successfully carried out a salmon farming experiment in the designated cold water aquaculture demonstration sea area which accumulated aquaculture basic data and engineering experience. The research also indicates that Shandong has achieved initial results in exploring the deep sea aquaculture model.

"The traditional fishing industry has always been offshore fishing, which has already exceeded the renewable capacity of marine resources and caused damage to marine ecology," Mai said.

Shandong’s advancement of marine resources requires upgrading of traditional marine industries, and improvement of shipbuilding capacity, as well as development of deep ocean aquaculture models and new modes of ocean operations like improved coastal tourism and strengthened seawater desalination.

In the future, Shandong should start from the aquaculture industry, expand the industrial chain of seawater aquaculture and develop marine economy. Mai said that, for example, marine aquaculture requires transportation vessels and other equipment, so that high-end equipment manufacturing should be developed. Aquatic products need to be transported and marine logistics needs to be developed accordingly.