Developing the Marine Economy and Building a Strong Marine Province

Abstract

As Zhejiang is situated in China’s coastal areas and the T-shaped Yangtze River economic belt and at the estuary of the Yangtze golden waterway, Zhejiang enjoys unique abundant marine resources and a superior advantage for its location. Zhejiang is an important province of marine resources in China’s coastal areas; it abounds in such marine resources as ports, fishery, scenery, oil, tideland, energy and islands. Since ancient times, thanks to the advantage of its geographical location in the coastal area, Zhejiang has a long history of a marine economy. The traditional marine industries, including fishery, salt and shipping, began to take shape before the founding of new China. In the late 1980s, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, the successive Party Committees and governments of Zhejiang Province, have been attaching great importance to the development of the marine economy and have put forward the basic strategy of Zhejiang’s development of a marine economy. After many years of continued efforts, Zhejiang has gradually marched from a large province of marine resources to a strong province with a marine economy.