Digitalization and Greenization of Modern Marine Ranch

Dear Colleagues,

The ocean is the “blue granary” from which humans can to obtain high-quality protein sources. However, since the 20th century, marine fishery resources have been in decline globally due to overfishing, environmental pollution, and habitat destruction. In response to this situation, China proposed a plan in 2015 for modern marine ranching to promote sustainable fishing. Marine ranching refers to an artificial ecosystem that applies marine technology and management systems to restore marine habitats and enhance fishery resources. As a new type of marine fishery production approach, marine ranching has now become an effective method of changing the development mode of fisheries, improving the marine ecological environment, and guaranteeing the sustainable utilization of marine biological resources.

Goal 12 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns to sustain the livelihoods of current and future generations. Marine ranching is a new mode of fishery production, and also a new form of marine industry. Promoting the construction of modern marine ranching, promoting the development concepts of ecology, precision, intelligence, and integration, is crucial to the full realization of its role in sustainable consumption and production. The construction of modern marine ranches includes two parts: breaking through the core technology and innovating the development mode. Among them, the breakthrough of core technology is to be realized through the construction of a new technology system of ecological engineering, precise production, and intelligent management, while the innovation potential of the development model depends the development model of landscape integration, resource integration, and industrial integration.

This Special Issue focuses primarily on the construction of ecological, precise, intelligent, and integrated modern marine ranching. We believe that research on constructing modern marine ranching oriented towards sustainable consumption and production transformation can provide guidance and support for important sustainable development practices, such as guaranteeing food security and achieving high-quality economic development. We invite authors to submit papers that involve the formulation, determination, implementation, and improvement of the construction program of modern marine ranching. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Engineering technologies for artificial habitats in modern marine ranching;
• Ecological processes in artificial ecosystems of marine ranching;
• Ecological carrying capacity assessment of marine ranching areas;
• Site-selection and layout of modern marine ranching;
• Mechanized seeding and intelligent harvesting equipment for marine ranching;
• Automated monitoring and precision measurement programs for marine ranching;
• Drivers and barriers for the construction of modern marine ranching;
• Innovative modes and experiences in the integrated development of marine ranching;
• The design and evaluation of integrated fisheries and tourism development modes;
• The construction of cross-border integration industry chains centered on marine ranching;
• The input–output model for the whole industry chain of modern marine ranching;
• Biological carbon sequestration and clean energy exploitation in marine ranching areas;
• The analysis and assessment of the ecosystem service functions of modern marine ranching;
• Risk prevention and control mechanisms for modern marine ranching;
• Disaster early warning and expert decision-making systems for modern marine ranching.

Prof. Dr. Shuhong Wang
Guest Editor

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• marine ranching
• sustainable consumption and production
• ecological safety
• digitization and intelligence
• integrated development
• high-quality economy