A sweeping investigation has found that half of the offshore seawater in the country has been polluted in varying degrees, a source from the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) revealed.

The discovery was made in the second investigation since last year by law enforcement of marine environmental protection.

"The country's general marine environmental quality is not optimistic, especially the offshore seawater quality." said an official from the Department of Pollution Control of SEPA.

In 2004, about 35 percent of offshore seawater was seriously polluted and nearly 50 percent of seawater quality could meet the environmental standard. The 2005 statistics are still being compiled.

Most polluted marine areas are concentrated in Bohai Bay, the seashore along east China's Jiangsu Province, the estuary of the Yangtze River, Hangzhou Bay and the estuary of the Pearl River.

Since the marine ecosystem is very fragile, many bays, estuaries and seaside wetlands' ecosystems have been destroyed. In recent years, the toxic red tides harmful for the plants and sea creatures have increased.

"The main reason for the bad offshore water quality is the pollution from the land," said the official.

Along the coastal areas, a large number of high pollution-emitting sources exist, such as from medical care, chemical industry, printing and dyeing and hides processing. Some of those factories are privately owned, and did not or could not afford to properly treat the waste before discharging it into the sea.

And in some coastal cities, wastewater processing is ineffective. Some of the urban wastewater treatment plants do not even operate.

"For the next step of controlling seawater pollution, we will put the focus on the pollution from the land," the official said. "At the same time, we must pay attention to pollution from the marine culture industry and atmosphere."

(China Daily November 29, 2005)