Cruise investigation of dimethylsulfide (DMS) emission in estuarine areas, heavily disturbed by human activities, was carried out in the winter of 2001 in Jiulong Jiang Estuary. The concentrations of chlorophyll, salinity and nutrients showed evidently spatial distribution in Jiulong Jiang Estuary, so did DMS concentrations in surface water. The average of seawater DMS was 101.0 and 242.1 ng x L(-1) in river mouth area and gulf area, respectively. DMS concentrations decreased first with the increase of seawater salinity and then increased. The highest DMS concentration occurred at river plume front of maximum turbidity zone of the estuary.