Ecosystem health assessment of the Egong Bay fisheries area in Shenzhen

ObjectiveThe present experiment was conducted to analyze ecosystem health of the Egong Bay fisheries area, in order to provide technical support for assessment of ecological effects of artificial reefs, proliferation and mainte-nance of offshore resources. MethodBased on survey data from 2012 to 2013, the model of ecosystem health assessment, the pressure-state-response model(PSR) comprehensive index method was applied to assess ecosystem health status of the Egong Bay. ResultThe results showed that, the ecosystem health of the Egong Bay fisheries area was in healthy and healthier status during whole investigation period. Four seasons were ordered based on their ecosystem health indexes(EHI), as follows: spring>summer>autumn>winter. The main factor influencing ecosystem health of the Egong Bay fisheries area was organic pollution index. The health of artificial reef area in the Egong Bay fisheries area was better than that of control area. And in the artificial reef area, the density of phytoplankton, biomasses of benthic animals, diversity indexes of phy-toplankton and benthos were in healthy status, and the eutrophication index, petroleum pollution index, zooplankton biomass were in healthier status, but the organic pollution index, density of nekton and density of roe and fry were in sub-health status. ConclusionThe Egong Bay fisheries area in Shenzhen is in healthy or healthier status , and influenced by organic pollution index, density of roe and fry resources and density of nekton resources. Artificial reefs can help to in-crease the density of roe and fry resources and health of benthos resources.