This region refers to the sea area along the extensive coast on the east and the southeast of China as well as around the islands in China's marine belt. The total area of the region is 4.2 million square kilometers. The sea floor inclines from northwest to southeast. From north to south, the climate shows the features of the warm temperate zone, the subtropical zone and the tropical zone.

There is a very rich reserve of medicinal materials in the region and the total number is close to 700. Among them are about 100 kinds of algae, 580 animals and 4 minerals. The main sea medicinal materials are Laminaria japonica (Kunbu), Sargassum pallidum or S. enerve or S. hemiphyllum (Haizao), Haliotis diversicolor or H. asinine or H. discus hannai or H. ovina (Shijueming), Ostrea gigas or O. rivularis or O. talienshanensis (Muli), Hippocampus kelloggi or H. histrix or H. japonicus or H. kuda or H. trimaculatus (Haima), Syngnathus acus or Syngnathoides biaculeatus or Solenognathus hardwickii (Hailong), Sepia esculenta (Haipiaoxiao), Sepiella maindroni (Haipiaoxiao), Callorhinus ursinus (Haigoushen), Phoca vitulina (Ban haibao), etc.

The sea-farming in China's marine belt has achieved a great success, which has guaranteed the resources of some marine medicinal materials, such as Haliotis diversicolor (Shijueming), Laminaria japonica (Haidai), Porphyra tenera (Zicai), Ostrea gigas (Muli) and pearls.

The sea is a huge treasure house of drugs. There is a great potential to develop new drugs by studying algae and marine animals. The effective measures have to be taken to protect rare marine medicinal animals, such as Callorhinus ursinus (Haibao) and Phoca vitulina (Ban haibao), which are facing the danger of being extinct.

The resources of Chinese materia medica are the treasures that we have been endowed with by the nature and by the Chinese traditional culture. On the one hand, we should make better use of the resources by developing a certain medicinal species with the help of the previous experience in using the drug and by adopting comprehensive and multi-disciplined methods and means. On the other hand, we should rely on science, technology and modern management to protect and develop these resources effectively so that they may keep serving as resources to guarantee the sustained supply of medicinal materials. To achieve this, corresponding technical and administrative measures should be taken on the basis of the investigation of the resources (especially some important resources) and the changes of the demand and supply in domestic and world markets, and through monitoring dynamically the reserve of each resource, the demand for it and its supply. The natural division of the resources of Chinese materia medica and the plan to develop them should be included in the economic development plan of each local government. More production bases for genuine medicinal materials should be set up on the basis of the existing ones. Plans should be made to set up some natural protection zones, botany gardens and animal farms in different parts of China so as to keep and protect each rare Chinese medicinal species and breeding resource.

In general, the utilization and the conservation of the resources of Chinese materia medica are inter-dependent and involve a complicated systemic project that requires the cooperation among many government departments, different industries and various sciences. On the basis of the technological support, the overall planning and the efficient management, the resources of Chinese materia medica will play a more important role in the cause of the healthcare and result in more remarkable social, economic and ecological benefits.