Nestled along China's eastern coastline and surrounded by the East China Sea, Zhejiang province boasts an advantageous geography ideal for the development of its marine economy. Its abundant maritime resource makes the area well placed to spearhead China's vision of building a marine powerhouse.

High-tech vital for marine innovation

At a June 26 showcase event in Zhejiang, marine robotics companies unveiled leading-edge innovations. Among the highlights were OceanGPT, China's first open-source large-scale marine AI model. OceanGPT can automatically convert natural language commands into task codes that guide underwater robots, significantly improving operational efficiency for key applications such as robot control and underwater smart embodied intelligence.

In recent years, Zhejiang has taken the lead by establishing the nation's first provincial-level Marine Economic Development Department to coordinate and integrate resources. With science and technology innovation at its core, the province is focusing on revolutionary technological breakthroughs, deep transformation and upgrading across marine industries.

The province is also intensifying efforts in deep-sea science, exploration, materials, and intelligent equipment. It focuses on enhancing capabilities related to underwater data collection, data transmission, and surface platforms, strengthening both R&D and manufacturing in these critical areas.

Modern marine industry ecosystem

Crossing the Yushan Bridge in Zhoushan city reveals a vibrant green petrochemical base on Yushan Island. This sprawling industrial complex, with its towering steel infrastructure and interconnected pipelines and storage tanks, has evolved beyond upstream production. It now incorporates mid- and downstream petrochemical sectors, boasting an annual refining capacity of 40 million tonnes, 11.8 million tonnes of aromatics, and 4.2 million tonnes of ethylene.

Furthermore, Zhejiang's marine development strategy continues optimizing the marine economy's industrial structure, upgrading traditional sectors, and cultivating emerging industries. Its goal is to establish a world-class marine industrial cluster and forge a modern marine industrial system.

The province is also pushing offshore wind power development as a pillar of its green, low-carbon economy. Last December, the Zhejiang (East China) Deep-sea Offshore Wind Power Home Port project commenced in Dongtou district, Wenzhou city. Scheduled to become a trillion-RMB-scale wind power cluster by 2030, the project acts as a logistics and production hub aggregating the entire offshore wind supply chain.

To further invigorate the ocean economy, Zhejiang established a dedicated marine industry project attraction and cultivation task force.

Pioneering marine eco-conservation

Zhejiang's innovative "Blue Cycle" initiative tackles marine plastic pollution by recycling waste into consumer goods like scarves and eco-friendly bags. Utilizing blockchain and IoT technologies, the project tracks marine plastic pollution through collection, regeneration, remanufacturing, and resale, having already processed over 19,200 tonnes of ocean waste.

In Shengsi county, part of Zhoushan city, decades of ecological damage from natural and human activities have led to issues like beach erosion, harbor siltation, and island pollution. Local authorities have implemented comprehensive ecological restoration projects employing source control of marine pollutants and coordinated land-sea management.

Key efforts include beach restoration, shoreline reshaping, bay dredging, and pollution containment — revitalizing 13.6 kilometers of coastline and improving nearshore water quality.