Zhejiang Pingyang Nanji Islands Wetlands is located in the East China Sea and includes Nanji Island, Xiama’an Island, and the adjacent bare rocks, submerged rocks, intertidal zones and sea. It is an offshore marine ecosystem dominated by permanent shallow waters, rocky shores, and sandy and gravel beaches. The Site lies at the junction of the warm Taiwan current and the coastal current of Jiangsu and Zhejiang; the mixing of these currents and the unique marine topography of the Site provide ideal habitat for 66% of all tropical and temperate fish species in the East China Sea, including the Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) and Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus). 422 species of macro- and micro-algae, 725 species of shellfish and other molluscs are distributed in the sea, intertidal zones, deep-water reefs, submerged rocks, and mudflats of the Site, which attract marine birds such as white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) and Pacific reef egret (Egretta sacra). As a hotspot of shellfish and algal biodiversity that also form an important part of the region’s mariculture, Nanji Islands was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1998.