From Ecology to Humanities: A Review, Insights, and Recommendations on National Marine Parks

National marine parks (NMPs) represent a category within the marine protected area (MPA) framework, and nearly all countries worldwide have implemented marine protected area or national marine park initiatives. Correspondingly, research on this topic has gradually emerged. Given that existing research tends to focus too much on the perspective of natural sciences such as ecology, this article specifically focuses on humanities research. The relevant literature on national marine parks is organized using a literature review method and mainly analyzed through content analysis. It is summarized into five research areas: park creation research, ecological and economic impact assessment, park community management research, park marine cultural heritage, and new park-planning methods. Through this review, it is found that the research content exhibits characteristics of being “ecology-heavy but humanities-light, impact-heavy but strategy-light, conservation-heavy but development-light, and qualitative-heavy but interdisciplinary-light”. In response to these trends, this paper suggests adopting new planning approaches, implementing participatory management strategies, enhancing community policy guidance, and promoting education on sustainable development. Furthermore, it proposes establishing NMPs focused on marine cultural heritage, creating authoritative park evaluation criteria and research methods, and strengthening diachronic studies, quantitative analysis, and interdisciplinary methods in the humanities.