Ornamental reef and its application in tropical recreational marine ranch: a case study of Wuzhizhou Island marine ranch in Sanya, Hainan

Ornamental reefs can effectively reconcile the inherent conflicts among natural habitat conservation, diving tourism experiences, and tourism-oriented economic development. In the report, the conceptual definitions and technical attributes of ornamental reefs were elucidated, the domestic and international developmental paradigms were compared, and the implementation feasibility and prospects of the ornamental reefs within the recreational marine ranching systems were further analyzed. The ornamental reef modules were used to construct the underwater artificial landscapes to alleviate the diving pressure on natural coral reef areas, enrich the diving experiences of the tourist, play the role of science popularization, publicity, and education, and enhance the public recognition. Based on these functions, the application and practice situation of the ornamental reef systems within the Sanya Wuzhizhou Island National Marine Ranch Demonstration Zone (Hainan Province) were introduced, the fishery-tourism synergy matrix of marine ranching ecosystems was expanded, and which accelerate the evolutionary optimization of their multifunctional service capacities. Our study proposes a new tropical marine ranching paradigm, which combine the coral reef habitat restoration and leisure tourism, establish a domestically distinctive ornamental reef demonstration cluster, and provide the references for the future construction and development of the ornamental reefs in China.