Island aims to be key hub for deep-sea development

A deep-sea themed science and technology city is rising at Yazhou Bay, at the southern tip of Hainan. Its success is based on substantial progress in the construction of key infrastructure, service platforms and the launch of technological systems that cover ocean entry tech knowhow and exploration and development of marine resources.

Yazhou Bay in western Sanya, Hainan province, sits 128 kilometers away from the sea area with a water depth of 1,000 meters and 260 km away from waters with a depth of 2,000 meters, making it possible for scientific research ships to go back and forth on the same day and the best natural "lab" for deep-sea research and development and testing.

With this unique location, the deep-sea sci-tech city, which is part of the Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, will provide important service support for accelerating the gathering of industries that are involved in deep-sea equipment research and manufacturing, the development of deep-sea resources and modern marine services, as well as in boosting construction of a strong marine power, according to the Yazhou Bay sci-tech city administration.

It said the deep-sea sci-tech city is promoting development of major research and application platforms to establish a deep-sea technological framework and master tech knowhow on ocean entry, exploration and exploitation of marine resources.

Sanya officials said the coastal city will make good use of its unique location and abundant marine resources to transform the local advantages into an engine for scientific and technological innovation.

It will also work to attract marine research talents and build a national deep-sea technology innovation center to promote further development and utilization of marine resources.

Officials with the sci-tech city said research projects to be planned or launched for construction in the near future include a national comprehensive deep-sea testing system, a marine big data center and a geological science and technology innovation base.

They also include an international deep-sea life research base, a deep-sea compound resource center and a national innovation center for intelligent deep-sea equipment technology industrialization.

The city will promote scientific and technological innovation as well as industrial upgrading in such fields as deep-sea equipment manufacturing and testing, development of marine energy and new materials, marine life sciences, marine ranching and public marine services.

The deep-sea science city will also encourage the industrial applications and development of key small devices such as intelligent inspection equipment for deep-sea mining, electromagnetic coupling seawater desalination devices, and items for marine oil pollution magnetic control recovery.

The science city will establish deep-sea and deep-seated microbial culture technology and platforms to develop new drugs, medical vaccines, functional medical and aesthetic products, food and microbial fertilizers to promote integration of deep-sea science and technology as well as life sciences.

Modern marine ranches will be jointly built to provide demonstration for optimizing the marine ecological environment, boosting sustainable development of marine biological resources and construction of the country's "blue granaries", according to officials with the sci-tech city.

They said the deep-sea sci-tech city is also striving to establish an international industrial ecosystem that closely integrates the deep-sea industry, education and research.

Expansion of Nanshan port, an indispensable part of the Yazhou Bay sci-tech city, has been planned to provide core functions to ensure marine scientific research, marine experiment and port industry development.

The port will cover 2.76 square kilometers and will be ready to serve the docking of nearly 20 scientific research and support ships simultaneously when completed.

Fifteen scientific research institutes including the Deep Sea Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Geological Survey, as well as a large number of universities and enterprises, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China Ocean University, Zhejiang University, Harbin Engineering University and China Shipbuilding Corporation, have registered in the sci-tech city.

Meanwhile, a number of large and super large deep-sea equipment, such as the Exploration 1, Exploration 2, Striver, and Deep-Sea Warrior devices, have also settled in Sanya, popularly known as the Oriental Hawaii among Chinese tourists.

China's new manned submersible Fendouzhe, or Striver, has set a national diving record of 10,909 meters in the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of Earth's oceans.

The record made China one of just a few countries to achieve "full ocean depth capability", meaning it can carry out routine manned expeditions at any ocean depth.