China is improving its monitoring of pollution being dumped into
the sea, as 25 percent of its nearshore waters have been moderately
or heavily polluted, said a senior official with the State Oceanic
Administration (SOA) in Beijing on Wednesday.
SOA Director Sun Zhihui said China has improved its national
monitoring system by establishing surveillance systems in 11
provinces and regions as well as 47 prefecture-level cities.
A recent report says that about 25 percent of China's nearshore
waters have been moderately or heavily polluted. Almost 110,000
square kilometers of nearshore waters does not meet national
standards for "clean" sea water, accounting for about 55 percent of
the total area of China's nearshore waters.
Sun said that the SOA has worked with other departments to
develop an environmental protection plan for the Bohai Sea, and
finished the compiling of environmental protection plans for other
coastal areas.
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)
