This paper summarizes the requirements for mod maritime wireless communication networks in the marine environments including the seato-sea and sca-to-shore communication scenarios.The existing maritime wireless communication systems are presented and the development of the state-of-the-art maritime communication systems is surveyed.Furthermore,a hierarchical and integrated maritime network architecture is proposed to satisfy the increasing various classes of services which demand different Quality of Service (QoS).Finally,the open issues for further development of maritime communications are identified.