China's heavily polluted ocean areas amounted to 32,590 square km by the end of last year, a rise of 4,000 square km over the previous year, said the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) Friday.
The marine environmental quality report for 2001, released by the SOA Friday, showed that the sea water around populous cities and industrial centers faced the heaviest pollution. Among the four inshore areas of China, the East China Sea and Yellow Sea suffered most.
Sea water is traditionally categorized into four types: the first type is normal sea water which is suitable for all marine life; the second category meets the requirements of marine aquaculture; the third type can only be used as ports; and the fourth or worst is heavily polluted.
About 173,390 square km of ocean areas in China do not meet with the quality of the first type, the report said. Inorganic nitrogen and phosphate are major threats to them.
The marine environmental quality in China was worsening, said Wang Fei, the SOA spokesman.
The report also revealed that "red tides" hit China 77 times in2001, 49 times more than 2000, affecting around 15,000 square km of ocean area.
Red tides were mainly attributed to the increase in ocean pollution, including industrial and organic sewage injected into the ocean.
The increase of red tides signaled the negative change of the ocean environment here, said Xu Sheng, deputy director of the administration's environmental protection division.
But last year's increase was partly due to the improvement of the monitoring capacity of the SOA, he added.
According to the SOA, red tides led to one billion yuan worth of economic losses in China last year.
(People's Daily March 30, 2002)
