The Meadow Beneath the Lagoon

When a reporter asked what color the sea floor was, Danjia fisher Lin Yousen answered that it was green: seagrass moved beneath the water, with seahorses, crabs, fish, shrimp and sandworms among it. Hainan Daily records this as his own observation, not a species inventory. On 19 May 2024, he drove a transport fishing boat to carry an interview group into Xincun lagoon. The story begins with a working fisherman choosing the route and showing visitors what he says he has seen under the surface.

Xincun Bay lies in southern Lingshui and is the county’s largest lagoon bay, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The Ministry says Hainan approved the Xincun Port–Lian Port special seagrass reserve in 2007, the first such reserve in China with seagrass beds as its protected object. A decade later, the ministry’s case described the reserve’s seagrass ecosystem as basically stable and its bed health as good. The Ministry’s 2017 case described the reserve’s seagrass ecosystem as basically stable and the bed’s health as good.

The Ministry’s case sets restoration beside fishing and aquaculture: it reports shellfish release into the lagoon, mangrove replanting and cleanup of shoreline and floating waste, while also describing deep-sea fishing and upgraded mariculture as directions for local industry. In 2024, Hainan Daily said the reserve had key and general-protection zones, with warning signs marking boundaries. A boat crossing into the lagoon therefore enters water that is both workplace and managed habitat. Fishing and aquaculture continued alongside the reported restoration and cleanup measures.

County staff told Hainan Daily that monitoring stations had been set in the seagrass beds at both Xincun and Lian ports. Teams followed environmental conditions and the beds’ growth, while local agencies also checked lagoon outlets and water quality. The report identified human disturbance, invasive species, excess algae and marine tourism as pressures; it said experimental restoration with research institutions was still being planned.

The first boat ride in the report was short enough to make the underwater meadow visible in shallow water. Its significance lies in the way knowledge moved: a local fisher carried the visitors, while reserve managers explained the zoning and surveys. A living seagrass bed cannot be read from a scenic shoreline alone. The story returns to that small act of pointing down from a boat, and to the patient work of measuring a habitat whose condition can shift under several pressures at once.