Shanghai is reinforcing patrols of the city's 24 islands, 21 of them uninhabited, in the East China Sea in a bid to protect the ocean.

There has been a rising number of incidents of people dumping waste on the uninhabited islands, officials said yesterday.

With a coastline of 788 kilometers, Shanghai has an oceanic area of 9,000 square kilometers but the ocean resource was not rich and the environment was also not pleasant, the Shanghai Oceanic Bureau said.

"The ecology of these uninhabited islands is being damaged," said Zhang Linhui, an officer with the oceanic administration team.

"Some fishermen fish illegally around the islands and dump waste daily, even chemical waste, on them," Zhang said.

The bureau is to cooperate with teams in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces in protecting all the islands in the East China Sea.

Shanghai is also going to develop its oceanic industry over the next five years, officials said yesterday.

"We are planning to strengthen the traditional industries of transport and shipbuilding and beef up the development of seashore tourism and information," said Shen Yiyun, deputy director of the bureau.

"We will also develop some emerging industries like biological medicine and new energy."