Improvement measures for seagrass beds

With the gradual pollution of the marine environment, seagrasses, which are as important as mangroves and coral reefs and grow on coastal sand and mud sediments, are also facing threats from man-made operations such as shrimp farming in the sea, mariculture and fish frying. In this regard, the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries recently put forward a proposal to establish protected areas or demonstration areas to strengthen the protection of seagrass beds.

It is understood that seagrass is a herbaceous plant in the ocean, growing on coastal sand and mud sediments. The role of seagrass beds in the marine ecosystem is very important, such as improving water transparency and controlling the quality of shallow water; a direct food source for many animals; and providing an important habitat and sheltered protection place for many animal species, etc. At present, Guangdong's seagrass beds are mainly distributed in the Leizhou Peninsula's Liusha Bay, Zhanjiang Donghai Island and Yangjiang Hailing Island and other nearby waters, and a small number of them are also distributed in Shenzhen Bay and Dapeng Bay, which are close to Hong Kong.

With the gradual pollution of the marine environment, the habitat of Guangdong seagrasses is now under obvious threat, mainly including shrimp farming, mariculture, including piling and hoisting shellfish (including oysters and pearl oysters), seaweeds (including unicorn vetch, etc.), purse-seine aquaculture, etc.; fish frying, poisonous fish and electrofishing; dredging and trawling for snails (shellfish); that the pollution, both on land and at sea (mainly from transportation, dumping and bait farming); dredging and fishing; and the pollution caused by the discharge of the sea water from the sea. etc.) discharges of pollution; dredging of harbor channels and typhoons.

Recently, the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries experts pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the investigation and research on seagrass beds, and to strengthen the publicity on the ecological value and economic value of seagrass beds, to improve people's understanding of the ecological function and value of seagrass beds, so as to raise the awareness of the protection of seagrass beds. For important seagrass beds, it is recommended to establish protected areas or demonstration areas to strengthen the protection of seagrass beds.