Marine Economy Quality and Efficiency Dual Enhancement: "15th Five-Year Plan" to Foster and Strengthen Emerging Industries

Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources released the “2025 China Marine Economy Statistical Bulletin.” According to preliminary calculations, the total marine gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 reached 110.18 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, contributing 0.4 percentage points to the national economic growth. The marine economy shows a steady progress with improvements in both quality and efficiency.

Shen Jun, Director of the Department of Marine Strategy Planning and Economy at the Ministry of Natural Resources, stated, “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the marine GDP has continuously advanced to three new levels: 9 trillion, 10 trillion, and 11 trillion yuan, with a more solid foundation. The added value of emerging marine industries increased by 7.3%, becoming a new ‘driving force’ for high-quality marine development. Traditional industries are accelerating their green and intelligent transformation, enhancing resilience.”

Shen Jun pointed out that during the 14th Five-Year Plan, China’s marine economy is accelerating its shift toward quality and efficiency. The total volume of marine aquatic products has ranked first globally for many years, port scale remains the largest worldwide, and shipping volume and container throughput each account for over one-third of the global total. The market share of ships and marine engineering equipment exceeds 50% globally, and new installed capacity and cumulative installed capacity of offshore wind power both account for over 50% of the global total.

By 2025, various sectors of the marine economy will achieve multiple breakthroughs. That year, the added value of marine manufacturing reached 35.23 billion yuan, a 6.8% increase from the previous year. Among them, the marine shipbuilding industry achieved an added value of 1.81 billion yuan, a 25.1% increase year-on-year. The international market share of new offshore ship orders, completed ships, and ships on order has continued to exceed 50%, maintaining the top position globally for 16 consecutive years. The capacity for marine oil and gas resource supply continues to strengthen, with offshore crude oil and natural gas production increasing by 3.4% and 17.0%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

In terms of emerging marine industries, marine engineering equipment manufacturing is accelerating recovery, with added value increasing by 10.2% year-on-year. The marine pharmaceuticals and biological products industries maintain steady development, with ongoing deepening of marine biomedicine and bioproduct research and development, and rapid emergence of innovative achievements. The offshore wind power market continues to expand, with new grid-connected capacity increasing by over 60% compared to the previous year, and the integrated development of “offshore wind +”. Desalination and comprehensive utilization of seawater are steadily progressing, with installed desalination capacity exceeding 2.9 million tons per day, and direct seawater utilization continuing to grow steadily.

At the new starting point of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the marine economy development faces new strategic opportunities. This year’s government work report explicitly proposed “strengthening overall planning of major bays, and making the marine industry stronger, better, and bigger.”

Recently, Guan Zhigou, Minister of Natural Resources, revealed that the Ministry will accelerate high-quality marine economic development in accordance with the goals and tasks set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan. Greater emphasis will be placed on innovation-driven development by launching major national science and technology projects to comprehensively enhance deep-sea sensing, detection, and development capabilities. Efforts will be made to improve efficient coordination through land-sea integration, further optimize the spatial layout of major bays, and create new growth poles. Industry renewal will be promoted vigorously by developing emerging industries such as deep-sea equipment and blue biorepositories to cultivate new economic growth points. Additionally, harmony between people and the sea will be prioritized by carefully protecting the blue waters and silver beaches, making cruise tourism and sea fishing new trends in cultural tourism. International cooperation and win-win development will also be emphasized through extensive marine cultural exchanges and building a marine community with a shared future.

Meng Qinglei, Deputy Director of the Department of Marine Strategy Planning and Economy, stated that future efforts will focus on five major directions: policy benefits for the sea, technological innovation for the sea, industry strengthening the sea, ecological protection of the sea, and cooperation for shared prosperity. These will be coordinated to promote higher-quality development of the marine economy.

Meng Qinglei pointed out that top-level design will be strengthened, with relevant departments jointly preparing special plans for the marine field, and formulating policies to support the high-quality development of marine industries and finance. Efforts will be made to enhance integration between ministries and provinces, with tailored strategies for each province to promote the construction of a strong marine province. Major marine science and technology projects and engineering initiatives will be launched, with an emphasis on fundamental and forward-looking scientific research, developing deep-sea green and safe exploitation technologies and equipment, strengthening strategic scientific and technological forces in the ocean, and continuously advancing the construction of national and key laboratories. The use of the national marine big data service platform will be optimized, along with the implementation of a blue talent program to cultivate more leading marine science and technology talents.

Simultaneously, efforts will be made to accelerate the development of a modern marine industry system, nurture and expand emerging marine industries, and introduce policies supporting marine pharmaceuticals, biological governance, and seawater desalination industries. The scalable utilization of tidal and wave energy will be promoted according to local conditions, and the orderly development of offshore wind power will be guided. Forward-looking planning will be undertaken for future industries such as marine ecological industries and marine digital economy, serving the high-end, intelligent, and green transformation of traditional marine industries. The utilization of offshore oil and gas resources will be expanded, and the modern marine service industry will be developed to improve quality and scale. The cultural and tourism sectors will be upgraded, blue financial products and services will be enriched, and efforts will be made to organize a new round of marine comprehensive surveys. Resource allocation will be optimized based on integrated natural resource management and land-space planning, promoting efficient and high-quality element guarantees. The exploration of multi-purpose use of the sea and layered utilization of sea areas will be advanced. Marine ecological protection will be strengthened through stricter regulation of ecological red lines, improvement of marine protected areas, and diversified investment mechanisms for ecological restoration. Monitoring and early warning capabilities for marine disasters will be enhanced. Deep participation in global marine governance will be pursued, with practical efforts to fulfill international biodiversity agreements, active involvement in the UN Decade of Ocean Science, and the promotion of blue partnerships to build a community with a shared future for the oceans.