Community-based conservation of coastal ecology in Dalian

Dalian Maritime University, China

This project is university-level, community-based program to raise community awareness by offering educational and training activities, knowledge and skills on coastal and marine conservation issues. The program aims create partnerships with local communities and local managers by encouraging them to join in the protection, management and rehabilitation of Dalian's coastal and marine environment.

Six kinds of activities were carried out during the past year:

1)        Training for Trainers

2)        Site visits to beach area

3)        Site visits to aquaculture area

4)        Beach Cleanup

5)        Oily-water treatment

6)        Environmental campaign

1. Training for Trainers:

Tthrough 20 lectures, “Training for trainers” provided project volunteers, understanding on marine ecosystem conservation.  The lessons were prepared as formal classes, stage play performance and competitions.

2. Site visits to beach area

Site visits to Ling Shui Bay, Heishi reef and Xinghai Park aimed to show participants different coastal ecosystems and how human activities interact and impact with the environment. Local communities, accompanied by staffs of this project, walked along the beach to become familiar with different coastal ecosystems. Thirty volunteers divided into 5 groups contacted also at least 5 local communities to increase their knowledge about the yellow sea ecosystem. After this teaching work, volunteers cleaned up the site they visited. These site visits were complemented by a research to observe and learn about coastal species.

3. Site visits to an aquaculture area

Site visits to an aquaculture area were organized to educate local people about how human activities affect the ecosystem, how to recover the damaged ecosystem, and how important the sustainable use of natural resources in the marine environment. The specific role for this activity was to educate local people how to utilize the limited natural marine resource and develop sustainable fishery and aquaculture practices.

Site visits were carried out to Longwangtang, Baoyudu village, Bolanzi village, Laotieshan, and Qixianling aquaculture farm. At Longwangtang, a forum with 12 volunteers debated the concept and objectives of “sustainable fisheries”. Fourteen volunteers visited Baoyudu village to discuss the impact of aquaculture and how to reduce the aquaculture pollution with locals.

4. Beach clean up

Beach clean up activities were carried out in Xinghai Park, Lijiao Bay, Heishi resident community and Longwangtang.

5. Oil treatment plant

To show people the impacts of oil spills and the ways to treat the oily water 40 participants were invited to visit the oily- water treatment plant of Dalian port.

6. Environmental campaign

6.1. Environmental campaign in campus

A five-day campaign was held during November at Dalian Maritime University to disseminate knowledge and information of marine conservation through exhibition and distribution of educational materials.

6.2 Environmental campaign in residential community

After the campaigns at the university campus, four campaigns were prepared with new educational materials for the residential communities of Heishijiao, Dayou, Shuzhou and Ligong.

6.3 Environmental campaign in park

Lastly, 40 volunteers joined in on the famous park of Dalian, Eastsea park to collect the suggestions on marine protection from the visitors.

Fig 1. Volunteers during clean up activities	Fig 2. Performance to engage people on marine conservation
Fig 3 and 4. Understanding local fishing practices
Fig. 5 Visiting the oil treatment plant	Fig. 6 Lecture and forums