Abstract: Information of 224 red tide events occurred in Fujian coastal waters in 2000-2018 were collected and investigated. The results show that the number and area of red tides occurred in Fujian coastal waters account for 17.3% and 6.1% of the totals in waters of China in 2000-2018, respectively. Compared with the years of 2000-2004, 2005-2009 and 2010-2014, the annual average number and area of red tides in Fujian coastal waters in 2015-2018 decreased significantly. The characteristics of seasonal and spatial distributions of red tides are obvious, which occurred frequently in coastal waters from Ningde to Lianjiang, Pingtan, Xiamen and Quanzhou from May to June. The annual average numbers of red tides occurred in the coastal waters of Ningde and Xiamen in the 4 periods decreased significantly while it only dropped slightly in Pingtan, and increased in Quanzhou. The total number, area and loss caused by dinoflagellate red tides are the highest. The main red tide causative species differed from north to south in Fujian coastal waters and the number of toxic red tides accounts for 14.3% of the total. According to the proposed red tide scaling standards, small scale of red tides occurred the most frequently. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of 3D red tide monitoring system in the coastal waters from Ningde to Pingtan and in waters of Quanzhou. And the time from May to June can be set as a critical period for red tide monitoring.