Abstract:Oufei Beach is located in Wenzhou, with its northern border along the river mouth of the Oujiang River estuary and its southern border along the Feiyun River estuary. A beach reclamation project and a series of marine engineering construction efforts will inevitably lead to changes in the local nekton community. Therefore, we aimed to carry out a survey of the nekton resources along the Oufei shoal in the adjacent waters and to evaluate its community structure, to provide baseline data for observing trends of change. This information is of great significance for evaluating and restoring ecological health of the area. Data were obtained from a fisheries resources survey carried out near Oufei Beach in May 2013. A series of statistical methods including population encounter incidence (PIE), variance ratio (VR), test, association coefficient (AC), percentage of co-occurrence (PC), point correlation coefficients (), Ochiai index, functional group classification, and trophic level constituents combining the means of niches were used to analyze the relationships among the major marine nekton species. Our results showed a population encounter incidence of 0.65. The maximum population encounter incidence was observed in , at 0.244, and the minimum population encounter incidence was observed in Leptochelia gracilis formed a species pair with a maximum value of 0.305, while formed a species pair with a minimum value of 0.003. There were significant positive correlations between the major nekton community species. Most species pairs had weak positive association or were unrelated, indicating that species had independent distributions. According to feeding habit, the major nekton species can be divided into five functional groups; in this survey, the omnivorous group formed the most numerous of these, while the phytophagous group was not represented by any species. Based on the relationship among the functional groups, the trophic levels for major nekton species varied from the second to fourth trophic levels, with the third and fourth trophic levels as the key trophic levels in our study. A combination of the above methods yields a comprehensive analysis of the major nekton adjacent to Oufei Beach, showing functional relationships between different populations. An in-depth analysis and study of interspecies relationships in this habitat is valuable as a scientific basis for protecting fisheries resources, developing breeding programs, and building management strategies. Our study has demonstrated that the ecosystem structure in Oufei Beach is mature, and that the community has the capacity to tolerate some degree of environmental change. However, the number of major nekton and the type of resources in the area have been heavily affected by environmental degradation of the area. To realize sustainable development of fisheries resources in this area, greater emphasis should be placed on the regeneration and maintenance of these resources.