Panjin Municipality, located at the southwest part of Liaoning, is characterized by oil field, reed wetland, rice farms, crabs and white clam. It has a coastline 118km. Traditionally, its economy has been highly dependent on the production of oil and gas, but its dependability has been declining recently. Liaohe River Delta is the largest coastal reed wetland. Shuangtaizi Estuary National Natural Reserve, which was established in 1985, is home to various species of wildlife including migratory birds. Existing management efforts include estuarine and marine environmental monitoring, strengthening marine environmental management and enforcement, and conservation of key habitat such as reed wetland, called “red carpet”. The Plan Outline for Development of Eco-city in Panjin issued in 2003 would bring opportunities to improve ocean and coastal management. To strengthen existing management efforts, it is necessary to strengthen public awareness on the importance of marine ecosystem and resources, formulate necessary rules and regulations, upgrade marine environmental monitoring capacity, establish coordinating mechanism, and strengthen management and enforcement capacity.
