Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment officially approved Qingdao’s plan to establish a marine monitoring base on the Jiaodong Peninsula. The establishment of this “national-level” platform marks a new milestone for Qingdao in the field of marine ecological environmental protection and will provide strong support for building a leading, modern marine city.

This time, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has selected 15 national marine monitoring stations across coastal provinces and cities nationwide as specialized, demonstrative, and innovative bases for joint central-local development. Thanks to its solid foundation in marine monitoring, distinctive features, and outstanding capabilities, Qingdao stood out from numerous candidate institutions and became one of only three city-level units selected nationwide. It is also the sole supporting unit among the 16 municipal monitoring centers in Shandong Province, fully demonstrating Qingdao’s leading position in the field of marine ecological and environmental monitoring.

The Jiaodong Peninsula Marine Monitoring Base will focus on the conservation of marine biodiversity as its primary development direction. By conducting specialized research on marine ecological environment monitoring and demonstrating the application of new technologies and equipment, the base will establish a regional platform for innovation and collaboration in marine ecological monitoring technology. Guided by the principles of "up-and-down coordination and integrated resource allocation; national tasks and division of labor through cooperation; distinctive leadership and innovative demonstration; and enhanced communication and talent cultivation," the base will contribute to building a modern ecological environment monitoring system, promoting high-level protection of the marine ecological environment, and driving high-quality development of the marine economy.

The Jiaodong Peninsula Marine Monitoring Base will focus on the conservation of marine biodiversity as its primary development direction. By conducting specialized research on marine ecological environment monitoring and demonstrating the application of new technologies and equipment, the base will establish a regional platform for innovation and collaboration in marine ecological monitoring technology. Guided by the principles of "up-and-down coordination and integrated resource allocation; national tasks and division of labor through cooperation; distinctive leadership and innovative demonstration; and enhanced communication and talent cultivation," the base will contribute to building a modern ecological environment monitoring system, promoting high-level protection of the marine ecological environment, and driving high-quality development of the marine economy.

Qingdao City will rely on the Qingdao Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center of Shandong Province to carry out base construction. The base will simultaneously focus on three key areas: serving national strategies, supporting the development of beautiful bays, and setting a model for coordinated central-local development. By establishing a collaborative mechanism between the central and local governments, the base will directly undertake tasks such as national-controlled marine area monitoring, research on ocean carbon sinks, and studies on emerging pollutants, thereby actively supporting the construction of the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone and the “dual-carbon” strategy. In terms of supporting the development of beautiful bays, the base will employ advanced technologies such as environmental DNA monitoring and bio-identification mapping to innovatively develop an ecological health assessment system for bay areas, continuously enhancing Qingdao’s status as a modern marine city and its core competitiveness. At the same time, the base will adopt a dual-drive model—combining national missions with local characteristics—deepen joint technological research and development with the National Oceanic Center, vigorously foster new marine productivity, and create a benchmark for coordinated central-local development.

As the Yellow Sea Coastal Area Environmental Monitoring Substation of the China National Environmental Monitoring Center, the Qingdao Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center in Shandong Province boasts over 40 years of experience in marine ecological and environmental monitoring. In 2024, the center completed the construction of a new 1,000-square-meter specialized marine monitoring laboratory, whose functional layout covers cutting-edge areas such as seawater quality monitoring, marine environmental DNA monitoring, marine bio-toxicity monitoring, and monitoring of emerging pollutants. Additionally, the center has jointly established with universities, research institutes, and enterprises based in Qingdao the “Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Industry-University-Research-Application Collaborative Innovation Laboratory,” actively promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of marine ecological and environmental monitoring.

In recent years, Qingdao City has actively sought to be designated as a national pilot city for monitoring marine carbon sinks. As a result, the city has received 10.93 million yuan in financial support for capacity-building from municipal funds. The city has also acquired advanced equipment, including a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, a gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, and an intelligent identification system for marine organisms. Furthermore, Qingdao has established a specimen collection covering more than 500 species of marine organisms found in the nearshore waters and intertidal zones of Qingdao, significantly enhancing its monitoring capabilities in areas such as marine biodiversity, environmental DNA, and emerging contaminants.

Currently, the base has taken the lead in completing more than 20 projects, including the Jiaozhou Bay Ecological Health Assessment and the baseline survey of nearshore pollution in the Yellow Sea. It is also collaborating with the National Marine Monitoring Center on scientific research related to marine carbon sinks and environmental DNA monitoring. Furthermore, it has jointly established the “Innovative Application Center for Ecological and Environmental Monitoring” with Ocean University of China and co-built and shares a thousand-ton-class ocean monitoring vessel with maritime authorities, thereby initially establishing an integrated marine ecological monitoring system comprising “laboratory + biological base + research platform.”

The approval to build the Jiaodong Peninsula Marine Monitoring Base has provided strong support for enhancing Qingdao’s scientific research capabilities in marine ecological environment monitoring. Moving forward, Qingdao will adhere to the national principles of “substantive development, distinctive features, operationalization, and internationalization,” focusing on three key areas: technological enhancement, talent attraction, and industrial empowerment. We will deepen the application of integrated sky-ground-sea monitoring technologies, establish a collaborative resource cluster involving both central and local authorities, and spearhead a green transformation of the marine economy, striving to build a nationally leading, uniquely characterized marine monitoring base and injecting robust “blue momentum” into the practice of Chinese-style modernization in Qingdao.