China's Coastal Areas Still Suffering from Severe Pollution     

Despite improvement in some areas, pollution in China's coastal areas remain "severe", according to a report released on January 15th, 2008 by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).
    About 145 000 square km of coastal area was polluted in 2007, down around 4 000 square km from 2006, the report on China's oceanic environment said.
    Among the most heavily polluted coastal areas are Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, Yellow River Estuary, Laizhou Bay, Yangtze River Estuary, Hangzhou Bay and Zhujiang River Estuary, the report said.
    The northern Bohai Sea, the worst polluted sea area in the country, still suffered from heavy pollution. The polluted area measured 24 000 square km, or 31% of the total Bohai area, an increase of 4 000 square km from the 2006.
    "The deterioration trend of China's coastal area ecosystem has not been eased," said Li Xiaoming, the Director of SOA's Department of Ocean Environment Protection.
    Around 78% of the 18 regions under ecological monitoring were in a sub-state of ecological health or unhealthy.
    China had 82 cases of red tide in 2007, contaminating 11 610 square km of sea area.
    "Oceanic authorities at all levels must strengthen supervision on terrestrial pollution sources near sea areas," Li said.