Baseline assessment:
With the improvement of domestic social and economic level, China?s public welfare and philanthropy have flourished in recent years. However, among the many public welfare fields, marine protection still needs more attention from all walks of life, and the public welfare investment it receives is still lacking compared with other fields. At the same time, the decline of marine ecosystems and fishery resources, pollution of the marine environment, and other problems are increasingly threatening people?s daily lives and basic food security, but also affecting the substance of fishermen who depend on the ocean for their livelihood. Although in recent years, more and more local organizations in the growing Chinese public welfare industry have focused on marine protection, due to the scattered spatial layout, the general small scale, and fierce competition for limited resources, it is very difficult for such public welfare organizations to communicate with each other and coordinate actions, and practitioners often lack professional knowledge and experience in marine-related fields, and the effectiveness of marine public welfare needs to be improved.
In order to enhance mutual understanding among non-profit organizations concerned about the ocean nationwide, strengthen their information sharing, communication and collaboration, and capacity building, and enhance the attention of all sectors of society to marine environmental issues, promote the docking of social resources and public welfare organizations, unite various social forces, and jointly promote the harmonious and common development of China?s oceans in the three dimensions of economy, environment, and society, some domestic ocean NGOs held three sessions of ?China Marine NGO Forum? in 2015, 2017 and 2019, successfully established a network for marine NGOs in China, providing a platform for these institutions to communicate and learn from each other. The project plans to continue the biennial "China Ocean NGO Forum" (originally planned to be held in 2021 due to the postponement of the epidemic), and carry out other forms of network construction and capacity building for domestic marine protection non-profit organizations.

Main problems:
Under the effort of several domestic marine NGOs, the first three ?China Ocean Forum? were conducted successfully, and marine conservation in China has drawn increasing attention from society. Issues regarding marine ecosystems and conservation have received more media coverage. More and more civil societies, charity foundations, and enterprises from China and overseas have begun to learn about the works and efforts of China marine NGOs, providing more investments and distribution opportunities. Nevertheless, the scale of the group concerning marine conservation and marine ecological civilization development is small. Under the current tendency in which the protection and sustainable utilization of marine resources become an important issue internationally, it is still an urgent need to raise public awareness of marine protection in China to mobilize media and social resources in support of marine protection.
Meanwhile, most local marine NGOs in China are not established for long. Many organizations have a very limited network of experts, making it hard for them to interact and communicate with domestic and foreign scholars. Therefore, local marine NGOs in China need to receive more capacity building from domestic and foreign experts to refine their professional knowledge and skills so as to better carry out projects and work related to marine ecological protection and sustainable benefits to marine resources. The cultivation of relevant talents and the improvement of their capabilities are of great importance to the sustainable development of China?s marine public welfare undertakings.
Furthermore, according to our working experience, in the field of marine conservation in China, female practitioners, relevant experts, and volunteers account for the majority, and QMCS hopes to enhance women?s leadership in domestic marine ecological protection through this project and empower many female public welfare practitioners involved in domestic marine conservation projects.

Proposed activities:
Activity 1.
Network building 1: combining online and offline forms, hold the ?Fourth Ocean NGO Forum? at Rudong County, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province
Activity 2.
Network building 1:
Establish a mechanism for network construction, including undertaking the dissemination of the "Fourth China Ocean NGO Forum"; Maintain multiple social media (including WeChat public accounts, Weibo, and forum pages) and publish relevant communication content; Establish WeChat groups to build a platform for effective network construction, dissemination, and mutual communication among members
Activity 3.
Capacity building 1:
In cooperation with the SEE Foundation, with the network resources of the partners, two online or offline webinars about the ecological restoration of seagrass beds and sustainable seafood consumption advocacy are planned
Activity 4.
Capacity building 2:
In cooperation with the Shenzhen Zhilan Charity Foundation, with the help of the Zhilan Night School, a professional capacity-building network platform, two online webinars on the theme of subsistence fishing community protected areas and the reduction of endangered marine animals by-catch are planned;

Activity 5.
Capacity building 3:In cooperation with the Friends of Ocean Action, with the help of the network resources of the partners, experts from the partners are invited to carry out an online webinar on how non-profit organizations can work together with enterprises to promote marine ecological protection and an online webinar on other ocean-related topics

Anticipated results:
Draws attention from all sectors of society to marine issues, enhances the communication between domestic and foreign marine NGOs. Promote foreign marine NGOs to provide targeted support to domestic counterparts; enhance the public?s awareness of marine protection, condense the consensus of the industry, and promote the coordinated actions of domestic and foreign NGOs, scientific research institutions, governments, universities, enterprises, and individuals. Women?s leadership in China?s marine public welfare will also be strengthened, and women?s participation in China?s marine NGOs will be promoted
The projects of the NGOs will receive more channels for publication, drawing more attention to marine conservation.
The professional ability and knowledge of practitioners (mostly women) of China?s local marine NGOs will be significantly improved in the restoration of marine ecosystems and sustainable aquatic consumption, and more opportunities to exchange with experts in related fields at home and abroad will be obtained.
The professional ability and knowledge of practitioners (mostly women) of China?s local marine NGOs will be significantly improved in the subsistence fishing community protected areas and the reduction of endangered marine animals by-catch, and more opportunities to exchange with experts in related fields at home and abroad will be obtained.
The professional ability and knowledge of practitioners (mostly women) of China?s local marine NGOs will be significantly improved in how non-profit organizations can work together with enterprises to promote marine ecological protection, and more opportunities to exchange with experts in related fields at home and abroad will be obtained.