AUTHOR=Wang Ziwen , Yao Lijun , Yu Jing , Chen Pimao , Li Zhen , Yang Weiwei TITLE=Evaluation of the ecological carrying capacity of Wailingding marine ranching in Zhuhai, China by high-resolution remote sensing JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science VOLUME=11 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1354407 DOI=10.3389/fmars.2024.1354407 ISSN=2296-7745 ABSTRACT=

Evaluation of the ecological carrying capacity of marine ranching is a prerequisite and guarantee for ensuring the sustainable development of aquaculture activities, protecting and maintaining the stability and security of marine ecosystems. Based on high-resolution satellite remote sensing data and survey data of Wailingding marine ranching in Zhuhai from 2006 to 2021, this study constructed a marine ecological carrying capacity (MECC) index system with three levels: resources, environment, and ecology. A combination of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and entropy method was applied to assign values to indexes, and then, the MECC of marine ranching was evaluated based on the state-space model and the weighted Bonferroni mean (WBM) model. Results showed that the MECC of Wailingding marine ranching increased from 0.49 (2006) before the marine ranching construction to 0.79 (2021) after the marine ranching construction. Marine ranching had elevated MECC from a loadable state to a fully loaded state. The intertidal subsystem, with a weight of 52.51%, dominates the MECC of marine ranching, in which resource and environmental factors are the major influencing factors. The increased rate of the state-space model (61.73%) was higher than that of the WBM model (44.34%), indicating that the state-space model is more feasible for the MECC assessment of Wailingding marine ranching.