Marine environmental quality evaluation based on set pair analysis: A case study on offshore waters in Jiangsu province

Marine environment is an important component of natural environment. It is a basic guarantee to realize the sustainable development of marine economy. The increasing marine environmental pollution causes many bad results. The paper selected the contents of inorganic nitrogen, activated phosphate, oil, mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), arsenic (As) and copper (Cu) as evaluation indexes. Then it established an evaluation model based on set pair analysis method. Finally it evaluated marine environmental qualities of four offshore waters (Nantong Water, Yancheng Water, Lianyungang Water and Jiangsu Water) from 2005 to 2007. The results show that marine environmental qualities of the four waters are in good status basically. However, there is an obvious trend of deterioration in the three waters except Nantong Water, which must be paid enough attention. Set pair analysis is a good integrated evaluation method for marine environmental quality and has broad application prospects.