China

Marine Protected Areas in the People’s Republic of China

China’s coastline stretches some 18,000 km and its EEZ is roughly 877,019 sq km. Qiu et al. (2009) report a rapid expansion of MPAs in China since the 1980s, bringing the total to 158 now in place. Many of these are established legally as no-take areas, referred to as marine nature reserves (MNR). The area of the 146 MNRs is China is 3.56 million ha, or about 1.2% of China’s marine area. Another 12 areas have been designated as marine spatial protected areas (MSPA’s) and these are multiple use. The area of MSPA’s covers 3.77 million ha of China’s waters (1.26%).

Relevant government policies for the regulation of these MPAs include the Regulations on Nature Reserves (1994), the Rule of Marine Nature Reserves (1994) and the Interim Rule of Marine Special Protected Areas (2005).

Despite the 158 MPA sites referenced in the report by Qiu et al (2009), the WDPA contains just 47 entries for China. Given the discrepancy in these lists, and the lack of available information, it is difficult to provide protection levels for MPAs, other than those listed as Nature Reserve in the WDPA. Despite the legal standing of these areas as "no-take" it is likely that they are subject to multiple-uses including fishing (Qiu et al. 2009).

Sources

Qiu, W., B. Wang, P.J.S. Jones, J.C. Axmacher. 2009. Challenges in developing China's marine protected area system. Marine Policy, 33 (4): 599-605.