Marine Economic Development and Conservation

The ocean is an important component of modern economic development and social activities, and acts as a natural source for ecologically sound and sustainable development. The ocean also offers opportunities for new growth in terms of economic breakthroughs and innovations, acting as a key part of the overall composition of social development; however, in contrast, it can also become a bottleneck and restrict socioeconomic development. As the strategic position of the ocean continues to be highlighted, issues such as the high-quality development of the marine economy, resource accounting and management, efficiency, ecological compensation and security, marine bearing capacity measurement, and the construction of monitoring, early warning, and management systems have become increasingly important.

An increasing amount of research is indicating that the quality of marine resources and the environment is related to the level of human economic development and society’s environmental policy response. Although the utilization of marine resources is the only way to achieve a “strong ocean state”, if the rapid growth of regional marine economies occurs at the cost of the rapid consumption of marine resources and the environment then the marine economic model will eventually lead to the depletion of marine resources and the exposure of environmental problems. The applications of the digital economy, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing technologies have recently provided new opportunities for the conservation and protection of the marine economy. Appropriate methods have been selected to explore the marine economy and meet the needs of the goals of sustainable development and the protection of the marine economy.

Twelve articles are published in this Special Issue, eleven research articles and one review, covering a wide range of marine resources, industrial structures, technologies, and ecological economics. In addition, this Special Issue also examines compounds that are not commonly monitored but have the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse effects on the economy and resources.

Among these research articles, the paper by Shuhong Wang et al. [1] describes the four frontiers of marine economics and management that result in marine development: marine economy, marine resources, marine ecology, and marine accounting. To use different types of marine resources more efficiently, it is necessary to apply a property rights system of natural resources to marine fields. The good quality of the marine economy is guaranteed by marine ecology. The growth of the marine economy is based on successful marine accounting with the goal of identifying a breakthrough for transforming and upgrading marine industry structures, improving the marine economic governance system, and strengthening the modernization of marine governance capacity in order to better develop and utilize the ocean.

Therefore, the main goal of this Special Issue was to collate studies investigating the following: (1) high-quality development and pollution, as in the paper by Jianyue Ji et al. [2,3]; (2) marine industrial structures and technology, as discussed by Xue Jin et al. [4], Yingying Liang et al. [5], Xin Shan and Yun Cao [6], and Yanfang Sun et al. [7]; and (3) marine resource constraints and management, highlighted in studies by Hongjun Guan et al. [8], Chun-Yu Lin et al. [9], Shuhong Wang et al. [10], and Zhe Yu et al. [11].

The papers collected in the Special Issue focus almost entirely on analyses of China’s situation, which is of course important but presumably not the only one to be considered in dealing with the issue of “Marine Economic Development and Conservation”. As of now, China is more focused on the immense potential of blue granaries, blue medicine warehouses, and ocean ranches, which could improve the quality of human life. Blue carbon sinks can help reduce the effects of global carbon emissions. The ocean is a treasure. How to develop ocean-related human activities within the carrying capacity of marine ecosystems is our future research field.

We trust that the collation of these papers contributes to further interest in the marine economy and management field.