China's booming coastal economies have caused a frenetic
increase in land reclamation projects with disastrous consequences
to the coastlines and the fragile ecosystems they support.
"Marine plankton and fish types have been reduced dramatically
in the past decade, and marine eco-systems have been ruined in
coastal areas where land reclamation projects are rampant, such as
the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Yellow River
Delta," Lin Shaohua, director of the National Marine Data and
Information Service Center of the State Oceanic Administration,
said yesterday.
Excessive land reclamation poses a great threat to the
environment, experts with the center say, because it damages the
natural habitat of marine animals and plants, blocks estuaries and
causes flooding in coastal areas.
To put a halt to the wanton destruction of marine life and to
better protect the environment, an oceanic observation system using
marine satellites will be set up as part of an ongoing national
survey project. The survey is expected to be completed by 2009, Lin
said.
In the last few decades, about half of the country's mangrove
swamps and 80 percent of its coral reefs have been damaged,
according to the center's statistics.
China's beaches areas have shrunk by half over the past five
decades, especially in recent years.
Jiaozhou Bay, located on the Yellow Sea in east China's Shandong
Province, has shrunk by 35 percent -- from 535 square
kilometers in 1928 to the current 367 square kilometers --
according to the National Oceanographic Bureau's Beihai Branch. In
2002, the Qingdao government approved about 20 land reclamation
projects that resulted in the filling up of some 16 square
kilometers of the bay.
The reduction of the bay has led to a decrease in its
tide-control capacity and a deteriorated environment. In the 1960s,
more than 54 kinds of marine life populated the estuary; by the
1980s, only 17 remained.
Large-scale land reclamation is also taking place in southern Guangdong
Province where many large enterprises, especially in the
chemical and power industries, have set up in Beibuwan Bay.
"More and more projects have been started on land reclaimed from
the sea to avoid hassles such as tearing down old housing,
relocating residents and paying compensation for land acquisition,"
said Professor Hou Guoben of China Ocean University
in Qingdao.
But one expert does not believe it's all gloom and doom, and the
matter has to be viewed?in the proper perspective.
"Sea filling and land reclamation have been important oceanic
engineering activities for a long time, as well as a key means of
utilizing living and production space in the ocean," Sun Shuxian,
director of the sea areas management department of the National
Oceanographic Bureau, said in an interview with the Xinhua News
Agency.
Furthermore, the central government and coastal provinces have
set strict standards to control sea filling and land
reclamation.
Xin Rongmin, an official with the Shandong Marine and Fishery
Department, said that projects have to be approved by the
provincial or central government, and must fully and scientifically
demonstrate that they meet the guidelines on oceanic planning and
national industrial policies.
(China Daily May 26, 2005)
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