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The Pearl River Estuary is in the geometric center of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which is one of the main battlefields to drive the high-quality development of China's economy. This paper uses seven sets of typical satellite images in Pearl River Estuary for nearly half a century (from 1973 to 2021) to analyze the changes of coastline and sea reclamation. The results show that from 1973 to 2021, the total length of the coastline of the Pearl River Estuary increased from 240.09 km to 416.00 km, and that of the continental coastline from 186.87 km to 246.21 km (but the length of natural coastline in the continental coastline decreased from 136.91 km to 15.17 km). In the same period, the total reclamation area of the Pearl River Estuary increased by 28,256.06 ha. Before 2012, the growth rate of reclamation was generally fast. After 2012, the reclamation in China has entered a period of reflection. With reclamation was strictly controlled in the new era, only the previously approved reclamation projects and national major projects have been guaranteed, which makes the average annual growth rate of the coastline length and the reclamation area in the region show a significant downward trend. The reclamation in early days was largely for agriculture and pond culture purposes, but is shifting to transportation, industrial development, and urban construction in recent decades. This study scientifically analyzes the coastline and reclamation changes of the Pearl River Estuary in the past half century, which has a very important reference value for the next step to formulate marine ecological protection and restoration strategies, and construct a new pattern of marine space development and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mariculture ponds, most of which are reclaimed from coastal wetlands, have increased dramatically worldwide. However, ecological damage and compensation of these reclaimed mariculture ponds have not been assessed. A framework was presented to assess ecological damages of reclaimed pond mariculture and applied to the Qingduizi Bay, a typical pond mariculture area in the northern Yellow Sea of China. The results show that ecosystem services affected by reclaimed pond mariculture include marine capture fishery, gene resource provision, climate regulation, erosion control, waste treatment, science and education value, nutrient cycle and storage, and nursery/habitat. Among the values obtained from all services, the average score of damage severity to habitat services (0.74) was the highest. The total value of ecological damage associated with reclaimed mariculture in Qingduizi Bay was approximately 86,858.48 yuan hm−2 a−1, which is 29 times higher than the sea usage fee standard (3,000 yuan hm−2 a−1) currently implemented. Results suggest that the government should update the sea area usage fee with ecological damage compensation for reclamation mariculture and collect enough money to restore damaged marine ecosystem. Moreover, the general framework could also be transferable to other reclamation pond mariculture areas and used to examine reclamation mariculture proposals at different scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea area grading of coastal county-level administrative division and sea area benchmark price formulation is a sea area use management work with Chinese characteristics. Sea area grading is the basis for formulating sea area benchmark price, and its essence is to perform suitability spatial differentiation evaluation for different sea uses. This study technical framework, and conducts an empirical research on the sea area grading for sea reclamation and structures in Zhuanghe City, Liaoning Province. The sea area grading range for sea reclamation and structures includes the marine functional zones except for the ''marine protected areas'', ''special utilization zones'' and ''reserved zones''. Six hundred sixty-three (663) 1 km31 km sized grids are divided as the sea area grading units by the dynamic grid-based method. A sea area grading indicator system for sea reclamation and structures is established from three aspects: Sea area natural conditions, constraints of marine ecological spaces and sea area location conditions, The scores of the sea area grading units are calculated by the ArcGIS 10.2 software, and the sea area is divided into five grades. The final scheme is consistent with the sea area conditions in Zhuanghe City. About a half of the sea reclamation and non-permeable structures in Zhuanghe City are distributed in the grade 2 sea area, and the sea area benchmark price corresponding to the sea area grade will realize the value of the sea area resource assets to a greater extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980 s, human activities and climate change have changed China's coastal zone rapidly and extensively. Sustainable management policies and regulations need to be based on an understanding of how all these drivers have shaped China's maritime estate, and what/where the future management priorities are. Using multisource remote sensing (RS) data, we investigated sea reclamation and coastline changes over the past four decades in development hotspots, provinces, and coastal environment types along China's coastline. China's artificial coastlines increased from 24% to 70.9% in four decades. Sea reclamation was mostly dominated by aquaculture ponds, ports, and agricultural land. The total coastal reclamation intensity (CRI) increased, as did coastline pressure, by 39.7% from 1980 to 2018. Since 2000, artificial coastlines have grown longer than, and at the expense of, natural coastlines. Population growth, economic development, and government policies were key drivers of past changes. Our characterization provides baseline information on drivers, structure and trends at hotspots, provinces, and environment types for future coastal management in China. We recommend future changes be monitored with a three-dimensional coastal zone observation network to assist real-time monitoring, enforcement and sustainable management of all coastal zone activities and coastline changes. • The percentage of artificial coastlines increased from 24% to 70.9% over the last four decades. • Sea reclamation has mostly focused on the construction of aquaculture ponds, ports and agricultural land since 1980 in mainland China. • Coastline pressure increased from 255.4 in 1980–356.9 person/km in 2018, increasing by 39.7%. • Population growth, economic development, and government policies all played an important role in sea reclamation. • Some suggestions for future coastal management and protection in China were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the growing need for developable land, many coastal cities are draining and filling wetlands, transforming them into urban built-up areas, and thereby substantially altering the structure and function of coastal ecosystems. We demonstrate an integrative approach for investigating the dynamics and impacts of coastal development in China's Jiangsu Province, where urban expansion has resulted in extensive wetland losses and sea reclamation (the process of creating new land from ocean or coastal waters). Remotely sensed data reveal that landscape change in the study area has been accompanied by an increase in total impervious surface area and an increase in mean surface 'heat island effect.' These indicators of change can be detected with remote sensing data and used to support a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for urban coastal planning. Changes detected in Lianyungang during 2000-2006 suggest that reclaimed areas are environmentally sensitive and should be a focus of concern in future development planning, which has historically targeted coastal salt pond wetlands for conversion to land for the development. Given the current and projected rate of coastal development in China and elsewhere in the developing world, our findings and assessment approach have implications for coastal management decisions in the developing coastal zones of China and other regions of the world that are experiencing rapid urban growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coastal zone, the interface between the sea and the land, has a variety of characteristics, such as resource abundance, multiple services, ecological fragility and frequent occurrence of disasters. It has been under tremendous pressure from human activities, especially increasing sea reclamation in recent years. Sea reclamation, which is an effective way to alleviate human pressure on coastal land, is especially apparent in the coastal zone of Jiaozhou Gulf, located in the southern part of Shandong Province. As a massive human intervention, sea reclamation inevitably has great effects on all aspects of the coastal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]