The ninth International Marine Biotechnology Conference started in coastal city Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday.

The conference, the first time to be held in China since it was launched in Tokyo in 1989, attracted more than 600 experts, including some 300 from the United States, Canada, Germany and other countries and regions.

Experts are expected to hold discussions about aquiculture, marine microorganism, molecular marine biology and biotechnology and many other issues during the three-day conference that ends on Tuesday.

The event is jointly sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and some other organizations, under the auspices of the International Marine Biotechnology Association.