Last year witnessed rapid growth in China's marine economy while maintaining stable ecological environment conditions, senior officials said in Hainan's Haikou on Sunday, which marked this year's World Oceans Day.
"The national marine gross domestic product exceeded 10 trillion yuan ($1.39 trillion) for the first time last year, a year-on-year growth of 5.9 percent and a truly remarkable achievement," said Zhuang Shaoqin, vice-minister of natural resources.
Zhuang emphasized that the country is committed to fostering harmony between humanity and nature while advancing the blue economy.
She highlighted that the added value of emerging marine industries increased by 7.2 percent.
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When issuing the ministry's first set of marine natural resources atlas, Wang Hongbin, an official from the China Geological Survey, said that China has witnessed optimized marine space utilization structure, abundant marine biological resources and progressing marine environment.
"China has formed a new pattern of coordinated development among production, livelihoods and ecology," Wang said, adding that there are 189 national-level marine ranches totaling over 260,000 hectares. The coastal wetlands, including mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass beds, covered an area of 1.44 million hectares, with a carbon storage capacity of 118 million tons, Wang said.
The country has more than 28,000 marine species, accounting for around 11 percent of the known marine species worldwide. Research indicated a clear latitudinal distribution pattern of marine biodiversity, with the Yellow and Bohai Seas recording 4,200 species, the East China Sea hosting 11,300 species and the South China Sea harboring 12,900 species, exhibiting the diversity and complexity of China's marine ecosystems, he said.
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"Monitoring data shows a consistent water quality enhancement in China's jurisdictional waters. By the summer of 2024, areas meeting the first-class seawater quality standard accounted for 97.7 percent. Nearshore areas boasting good water quality reached 83.7 percent, while the average concentration of heavy metal elements in seabed sediments remained at relatively low levels," he said.
However, he cautioned about specific nearshore regions confronting issues like elevated nitrogen and phosphorus levels and the accumulation of heavy metals, advocating for strengthened pollution prevention and control measures alongside ecological restoration efforts.
Last year's China Marine Ecological Early Warning and Monitoring Bulletin, published at the event, confirmed the trend.
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The bulletin reported stable conditions in nearshore areas in recent years, with no significant changes in surface water salinity, pH levels, chemical oxygen demand or bottom water dissolved oxygen. Inorganic nitrogen and active phosphate levels have decreased, while sediment organic carbon and sulfide content have remained constant. Species numbers and diversity indexes of plankton and large benthic animals have shown no notable fluctuations, said Chu Jun, deputy director of the ministry's marine early warning and monitoring division.
Coral reef ecosystems in Fujian's Dongshan, Hainan's Sanya and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region's Weizhou Island remained in excellent conditions, with that in Hainan's Wenchang showing a moderate condition. There were increases in live coral coverage and hard coral replenishment quantities across the monitoring areas, Chu said.
He stressed that there were increases in the numbers of State first-level protected Bryde's whale, and the babies of Chinese horseshoe crabs, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, last year. In addition, large-scale seagrass beds were found in the waters near Shandong. However, global warming led to challenges like a rise in surface water temperature of the coastal waters and coral bleaching in specific regions. In addition, concerns persisted regarding harmful algal blooms and the prevalence of ocean hypoxia, he added.
