China's marine pollution was reduced as a whole in 2003, but some areas are still at alarm levels, China's environmental watchdog said Thursday.

According to the Bulletin on Offshore Environmental Quality of China 2003 released at the Thursday conference, polluted marine areas decreased from 174,000 square kilometers in 2002 to 142,000 square kilometers in 2003.

Of the four major marine zones, the East Sea is the worst polluted one while offshore areas of the South China Sea are the best preserved. Inorganic nitrogen and COD are key pollutants in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea while phosphate is in the East Sea and oil in the South China Sea.

Xie Zhenhua, head of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said China's marine environment is facing four problems.

The first one is the unchecked offshore pollution. Pollution treatment projects that cost billions have only raised the proportion of Grade One and Two sea water of the total by a 0.5 percentage point from 2002 to 2003.

The second one is the land-based discharges, which account for 90 percent of total marine pollution.

The third is oil leaks. Recent years have seen over 500 cases of leakage annually, at least two of which have leaked over 50 tons of oil.

The fourth one is the destroyed eco-system. The seaside wetland and mangrove forestry have been damaged while many rare marine animals are undergoing extermination.

According to Xie, SEPA will draft a national marine and coastal zone preservation plan, establish a total emission control system based on the marine environmental load, promote the Clean Sea Action Plan from the Bohai Sea to other major offshore areas, set up coastal ecological zones and make an emergency plan for oil leaks.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2004)