10. A Paradigm Shift: Applying Probiotic/Prebiotic Strategies to China’s Marine Pasture Restoration

The use of probiotics and prebiotics in China’s marine pastures signifies a paradigm shift toward ecosystem‐scale restoration and sustainability, even though they have been widely adopted in conventional aquaculture to improve individual animal health, such as improving the gut microbiota for disease resistance and feed efficiency in confined systems like ponds or cages [189]. In high‐density monoculture settings, conventional aquaculture usually uses these agents through targeted feed supplementation to improve growth performance and decrease antibiotic use, with benefits that are frequently exclusive to the farmed species (e.g., improved survival rates in shrimp or finfish) [190].

Our framework, on the other hand, uses prebiotics (like mannans or inulin) and probiotics (like Bacillus and Lactobacillus species) not only for host‐level modification but also for more extensive ecological engineering in marine pastures [191]. These open‐water, multispecies habitats, distinguished by artificial reefs, seaweed beds, and fish aggregation devices, support diffuse delivery mechanisms such as substrate‐bound colonization and water column dispersal that support the recruitment of wild stocks and the enhancement of biodiversity beyond farmed populations [192]. This differs fundamentally from standard applications by integrating microbial interventions with national restoration goals, such as those outlined in China’s “Blue Bay” and marine ranching policies, where probiotics/prebiotics facilitate carbon sequestration via enhanced algal‐microbe symbioses and reduce eutrophication through pathogen‐competitive exclusion at the habitat level [193].