Sea levels around China in 2003 were 60 millimeters above the average world sea level between 1975 and 1986, according to the 2003 Bulletin on Sea Levels released by the Chinese State Oceanic Administration in Beijing Saturday.

"Rising sea levels will deteriorate the environment of coastal areas and bring negative impact on social and economic development of those areas," said the bulletin.

The bulletin also shows that in 2003, the sea level of the Yellow Sea was 73 millimeters higher than the world's average sea level between 1975 and 1986 -- the internationally accepted criterion for calculating changes in sea level.

Meanwhile, the sea levels of the East China Sea, the South China Sea and the Bohai Bay were 66 millimeters, 63 millimeters and 27 millimeters higher than the world's average sea level between 1975 and 1986 respectively.

Global warming was the main reason for the rising of sea levels, noted the bulletin, adding that the excessive extraction of groundwater for rapid economic growth along coastal cities caused severe land subsidence, which in turn causes sea levels to rise.

Guan Daoming, a senior official with the State Oceanic Administration, said that the rising sea level may aggravate the windstorm damages to coastal areas, bring more flood threats to coastal cities and weaken the function of ports.

The rising sea levels will also cause soil salinization and make urban sewage hard to discharge. It even threatens the ecological system of wetland along the coastal areas, making the survival of wildlife there a problem.

The State Oceanic Administration also released that from 2001 to 2003, coastal erosion occurred around the Bohai Bay as well as Jiangsu province off the Yellow Sea and Hainan island province off South China Sea, mainly caused by the rising of sea levels.

The State Oceanic Administration proposed that local governments along the coastal areas should limit the extraction of groundwater, oil and natural gas and avoid intensive construction of skyscrapers in coastal cities in an effort to stop land subsidence.

Meanwhile, trying, substantial efforts should be taken to protect wetlands and river mouths along the country's coastal areas.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2004)