A novel marine esterase-producing bacteria isolated from the Bohai Sea sediment was identified as Bacillus licheniformis. The MP-2 esterase was primarily purified and characterized. The optimal range of temperature of the esterase was 50～70 ℃, and the maximum activity was achieved at 60 ℃ and pH10.0. The esterase was alkaline and its optimum range of pH was narrow. The thermal stability of the esterase was good. Co2+，Li+ ions were found to activate the esterase, but Ca2+ had no significant effects on the activity of the esterase. While SDS，EDTA and Tween-20 had significantly suppressive effects on the esterase. It showed strong resistance to ordinary organic solvents. The enzyme exhibited different esterase activities towards substrates with different length of carbon chains.