Xuwen Coral Reef National Nature Reserve

Xuwen Coral Reef National Nature Reserve

Xuwen Coral Reef National Nature Reserve is located in the southwest of Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong Province, located in Xuwen County. It is distributed in the Western sea area of Jiaowei, Maichen and Xilian, between 20 ° 10 ′ 36 ″ - 20 ° 27 ′ 00 ″ N and 109 ° 50 ′ 12 ″ - 109 ° 56 ′ 24 ″ E. It starts from Pengshi port in the East, reaches Dengloujiao as the break point, passes Baoxi salt farm, fangpo village, Tan Ao, Dongchang, Chengwu, Tianxi, Shuiwei village, Jintu and shimajiao in the north, and extends to longer and Dajing shipyard in the East with shimajiao as the break point. The coastline along the way is 35 km long. The total area of the reserve is 14378.5 hectares, of which the core area is 4356.1 hectares, the buffer area is 4665.2 hectares, and the experimental area is 5357.2 hectares.

Historical evolution

Since the 1990s, with the rise of marine aquaculture, many pearl farms have appeared in Xuwen Coral belt, and coral reefs have been seriously damaged.

In 1999, Xuwen Coral Reef county-level Nature Reserve was established in Xuwen County to strengthen the protection of coral reef natural resources. In 2002, it was upgraded to a municipal nature reserve with the approval of Zhanjiang Municipal People's government.

In June 2003, the people's Government of Guangdong Province approved the upgrading to a provincial nature reserve.

In 2006, Xuwen Coral Reef was rated as one of the "most beautiful places" in Guangdong Province.

In April 2007, the State Council approved the upgrading to a national nature reserve.

geographical environment

Geology and geomorphology

Jiaowei Township and Xilian town near the reserve are coastal areas, facing the sea on three sides. The terrain is low and flat, slightly higher in the north and lower in the south. The geology is mostly sandy soil and sandy soil. The coast and intertidal zone of the reserve are basically sandy beaches and reefs, mainly composed of coastal shallow marine sandy argillaceous clastic rocks and lacustrine gypsum salt bearing clastic rocks. The lithological characteristics are mainly light gray green siltstone, brown red mudstone and gray black basalt. There are more corals growing on gray black basalt, and they are also more luxuriant.

climatic conditions

The Nature Reserve belongs to the tropical monsoon climate zone, with sufficient sunshine, high annual average temperature and unobvious four seasons; abundant rainfall, large interannual change rate; the same season of rain and heat, and distinct dry and wet seasons.

Tide and tide

Tide: the tidal phenomenon in Xuwen coastal zone is mainly formed after the Pacific tide wave enters the South China Sea. Xuwen County is opposite to Hainan Island from north to south. The Qiongzhou Strait between Xuwen County and Hainan Island runs from east to west, slightly like a strip-shaped inland channel. The East and West outlets are respectively connected with the qizhouyang and Beibu Gulf. With the influence of the southeast, southwest and northeast monsoon and the uneven terrain at the bottom of the Strait gully every year, irregular mixed tides are formed. The reserve is mainly controlled by the irregular diurnal tide in Beibu Gulf.

Tidal current: the tidal current in the reserve is unevenly distributed, and the velocity in the sea area connected with Qiongzhou Strait in the South and the west of shuiweijiao is relatively high, while in the sea area to the west of Dongchang in the Bay, the velocity is very low or even not obvious.

Surface circulation

The surface circulation in the reserve is mainly controlled by the surface circulation in Beibu Gulf. In winter, it is strongly influenced by the surface circulation in the west direction of Qiongzhou Strait, and the circulation direction is mainly in the north and northwest directions. In summer, it is strongly influenced by the southwest monsoon and the eastward circulation of Qiongzhou Strait, and the circulation direction is mainly southeast and south.

water temperature

The lowest water temperature in the reserve is about 18 ℃ in January every year. The highest water temperature occurs in July, about 30.5 ℃, and the annual average water temperature is about 26 ℃.

Disastrous weather

It is mainly affected by tropical cyclone, typhoon, hail, tornado and cold wave.

Protected objects

There are 82 species in 19 families of 3 orders in Coelenterata. Among them, there are 27 species in 7 families of soft corals, 23 species in 5 families of soft corals, 4 species in 4 genera in 2 families of soft corals, 1 species in 1 genus in 1 family of group anemones, and 54 species in 11 families of stony corals. Stony corals are all national class II key protected animals and listed in the world cites convention. There are 12 species in 11 families of Annelida, 7 species in 6 families of Echinodermata, 19 species in 7 families of Arthropoda and 33 species in 19 families of Mollusca. There are 84 species of economic fishes, cephalopods, crustaceans and shellfish in 43 families.

Management status

Establishment of the Administration

The administration of Xuwen Coral Reef National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province has a director and a deputy director, with three departments including office, resources and environment department and technology research department.

Responsibilities of the office: responsible for daily affairs management, party affairs, discipline inspection, culture, publicity, organization and personnel, policies and regulations, external contact and coordination, text files, information, finance, asset management, labor wages and logistics management, etc.

Responsibilities of resources and Environment Division: responsible for monitoring the changes of environmental and ecological factors in the reserve, supervising various activities in the region, formulating resource management and protection plans and daily management and protection of resources, publicizing and implementing the laws and regulations of the reserve.

Responsibilities of technology research section: responsible for monitoring coral population, studying coral habits, influencing factors and cultivation techniques, undertaking scientific research tasks assigned by relevant national and local departments and scientific research work of cooperative research projects or reserve projects, and managing scientific and technological archives, scientific research instruments, equipment and books.

Management responsibility system

The management goal of Xuwen Coral Reef Nature Reserve is to build Xuwen Coral Reef Nature Reserve into a comprehensive nature reserve with rich marine biological resources, stable ecosystem, good environment, rich species gene pool and developed ecological tourism on the premise of paying attention to the three major tasks of protection, scientific research and publicity and education.

Main responsibilities

1. To implement the laws, regulations, principles and policies of the state on nature protection;

2. To formulate various management systems for nature reserves and manage them in a unified way;

3. To investigate natural resources, establish archives, organize environmental monitoring, and protect the natural environment and natural resources in nature reserves;

4. To organize or assist relevant departments to carry out scientific research in nature reserves;

5. Publicity and education of nature reserves;

6. On the premise of not affecting the natural environment and natural resources of the reserve, organize and carry out visits, tourism and other activities.

Scientific research investigation and monitoring

1. Six fixed sample plots were set up to retain and utilize the six coral reef ecological positioning observation points set up by South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The structure and function of coral reef ecosystem, the coverage, distribution, growth and recovery of reef building coral, the relationship between coral reef ecosystem and environment, and the dynamic succession of coral reef ecosystem are analyzed and studied by means of in-situ observation and sampling experiment.

2. Monitoring of zooplankton, benthos, fish eggs, larvae and swimming biological fishery resources in the reserve will provide reliable scientific data for protection and management.

3. Monitoring of rare and endangered species. In order to provide scientific basis for the protection and management, the population changes of rare and endangered species in the area were monitored.

4. Monitoring of ecological environment factors. Through the monitoring of water quality, sediment and other factors in the sea area of the nature reserve, the basic data of the dominant factors affecting the ecological environment are provided and analyzed, so as to provide scientific basis for nature protection and management.

5. Studies on the occurrence of coral diseases.

6. Research on coral resources restoration. Taking the typical section which is damaged and suitable for coral growth in all aspects as the scientific research demonstration area, through the experiments and research methods of coral asexual reproduction, sexual reproduction, larval attachment, culture and adult transplantation, the recovery of coral resources is studied, and the best methods and means of coral resources recovery are put forward.

7. Research on breeding technology of main economic aquatic products and national key protected animals. Research and explore breeding methods, seedling cultivation technology, cultivation technology, etc.

8. Research on the comprehensive utilization of economic marine organisms and medicinal marine organisms.

9. Coral survey activities are carried out regularly every year to investigate the ecological resources of coral reefs in the reserve.

10. To carry out the research on molecular biology of coral reefs.

Address: Southwest of Leizhou Peninsula, Guangdong Province

Longitude: 110.17718

Latitude: 20.32544

Chinese PinYin : Xu Wen Shan Hu Jiao Guo Jia Ji Zi Ran Bao Hu Qu