Coral cover rises across monitored South China Sea sites

Live coral cover increased across every monitored area of the South China Sea in 2025, while mangroves and seagrass remained healthy, according to two bulletins from the South China Sea Bureau of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources. Mangrove canopy cover exceeded 75 percent, and coastal water quality and biodiversity stayed within normal ranges, supporting an overall assessment of stable marine ecology.

The reports also delivered the first comprehensive ecological assessment of nine islands and reefs across the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha groups. Reefs in the Xisha showed signs of recovery after a major bleaching event in 2020 and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, with strong recruitment of young hard corals. At Huangyan Dao, surveys recorded 135 reef-building coral species, 1.85 square kilometres of seagrass beds and 38.8 percent live coral cover within the protected area.

Monitoring also documented an adult whale shark off Wenchang for the first time, groups of Bryde’s whales in the Beibu Gulf and dugongs at Yongshu Reef. Progress was uneven, however: two assessed Nansha reefs remained severely degraded. From 2021 to 2025, the region carried out 262 marine restoration projects, backed by more than 21.3 billion yuan.