A major new step has been taken to improve the water quality of the Bohai Sea, China's only continental waters and also the most heavily polluted of its four sea areas.

The latest move was made by the State Maritime Safety Administration, which on Friday began to seal the discharge pipelines of ships on the Bohai Sea in order to halt the discharge of water carrying waste oil into the sea.

The move will cut 500,000 tons of oil-mixed waste water from flowing into the Bohai Sea annually.

The administration is fulfilling its part in a national campaign, which aims to involve local coastal governments and related sea authorities to jointly curb pollution in the Bohai Sea, said Wang Jingdong, a publicity official with the administration.

The plan, drawn up at the beginning of the year, had not been immediately implemented due to a lack of necessary co-ordination and publicity at the time, she said.

Wang also disclosed that various local maritime safety authorities along the coastline of the Bohai Sea have already geared up to implement the order expected to affect as many as 1,000 ships by June 1.

Special facilities have been set up on shore to collect waste water from ships, which will in turn be collected and treated before being eventually discharged.

Those who open their waste seals without permission will be liable to fines up to 300,000 yuan (US$36,000), said Wang.

Official statistics indicate an average of 2.8 billion tons of contaminated water and 700,000 tons of polluted materials - equivalent to one-third of the total amount discharged annually into waters around China - flow into the Bohai Sea.

Although a large amount of pollutants will continue to be discharged into the sea in spite of this latest effort of the government, Li Mousheng, an official with the State Oceanographic Administration, said things will improve if a concerted clean-up effort is made by all relevant parties.

Li believes the sealing effort will contribute to relieving the disastrous red tides - discoloration of the sea caused by toxic algae - which annually cast a blight on the local fishing industry, one of the pillars of the regional economy.

As for the State Oceanographic Administration, Li said they would continue their efforts to push for the adoption of a special law governing the pollution of the Bohai Sea.

"The treatment of the pollution of the Bohai Sea requires wide-ranging co-operation," said Li, disclosing that they are waiting for comments from the legislature concerning their suggestions.

(China Daily May 27, 2003)