China's little-known efforts to protect its marine ecosystems safeguard some habitats but omit others

China’s stature as the world’s major producer and consumer of seafood is legendary, but its long-standing tradition of protecting marine life domestically is virtually unknown. We present the most comprehensive database on area-based marine conservation in China including 326 sites that conserve 12.98% of China’s seas and address 142 conservation objectives. Twenty-two percent of shallow habitats (<10 meters) were fully or highly protected and 20% of waters 10 to 50 meters deep were conserved to some degree. Ecosystems in deeper waters (>50 meters) are critical to protect, yet <5% of these waters in China were conserved, primarily in areas with the highest chlorophyll-α concentrations. Habitats such as underwater canyons and seamounts beyond the continental shelf had no area-based protection. While China has made progress in marine protection within its boundaries, there is more work to be done to ensure that the full suite of marine life is safeguarded.

WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies

[Figure: see text].

Quantification and Valuation of Nitrogen Removal Services Provided by Commercial Shellfish Aquaculture at the Subwatershed Scale

Eutrophication is a global environmental challenge, and diverse watershed nitrogen sources require multifaceted management approaches. Shellfish aquaculture removes nitrogen, but the extent and value of this ecosystem service have not been well-characterized at the local scale. A novel approach was employed to quantify and value nitrogen reduction services provided by the shellfish aquaculture industry to a municipality. Cultivated hard clam and eastern oyster nitrogen removal in Greenwich Bay, Connecticut, was valued using the replacement cost methodology and allocated by municipal nitrogen source. Using the preferred analysis allocating replacement costs by nitrogen source, aquaculture-based removal of 14 006 kg nitrogen was valued at $2.3-5.8 (2.3-6.4€) million year^-1. This nitrogen removal represents 9% of the total annual Greenwich-specific nitrogen load, 16% of the combined nonpoint sources, 38% of the fertilizer sources, 51% of the septic sources, 98% of the atmospheric deposition to the watershed, or 184% of the atmospheric deposition to the embayments that discharge to Greenwich Bay. Our approach is transferable to other coastal watersheds pursuing nitrogen reduction goals, both with and without established shellfish aquaculture. It provides context for decisions related to watershed nitrogen management expenditures and suggests a strategy to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms to achieve nitrogen reduction targets.