One of the innovation teams of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) (hereinafter referred to as the Southern Marine Lab), called “Changing Coastal Zones and Material Transfer in the South China Sea” (hereinafter referred to as the Coastal Zones Team), organized the Symposium on Environmental Capacity and Eco-dynamic Processes of Estuaries & 2020 Team Construction Meeting at Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus) on November 7-8, 2020. The symposium was a combination of online and on-site conferencing. Nearly a hundred local and overseas experts, scholars, teachers, and students attended this symposium.

This symposium was composed of two parts: The Coastal Zones Team construction meeting and the academic seminar. At the construction meeting, 5 comprehensive cruises carried out in 2020 were introduced, and presentations were given regarding investigations on fishes and cetaceans in the Pearl River Estuary, ecological restoration of coastal mangroves, and coastal spatial planning. At the academic seminar, a total of 18 oral and 16 poster presentations were invited. Prof. Kenneth Mei Yee Leung, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong and a core member of the Coastal Zones Team, was invited to give an oral presentation entitled “Developing interim water quality criteria for emerging chemicals of concern for protecting marine life in the Greater Bay Area of South China”.

The principal coordinators of the Coastal Zones Team, Prof. Jiaxue Wu from Sun Yat-sen University and Prof. Paul Kwan Sing Lam from City University of Hong Kong summarized the landmark achievements at the project. Dr. Dake Chen, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Southern Marine Lab, Dr. Zuoyan Zhu, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and former Deputy Director of the National Natural
Science Foundation of China, Prof. Meixun Zhao from Ocean University of China, and Prof. Jingping Xu from Southern University of Science and Technology attended this symposium as invited experts.