Gulangyu Island is a famous tourist attraction in Xiamen, Fujian Province. Xiamen has effectively protected the marine environment, forming a new model of marine waste disposal.

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China’s marine environment continues to steadily improve, but the pollution in some coastal areas is still severe, according to the Bulletin of China Marine Ecological and Environmental Status 2017 released on March 19 by the former State Oceanic Administration of China (SOA).

   The general quality of seawater has improved while the health and biodiversity of typical oceanic ecosystems remains stable, according to the bulletin. The environmental status of different oceanic functional zones basically meets the requirements for use. However, the water quality of rivers that empty into the sea is unsatisfactory and the pollution in some coastal areas remains critical.

The water environment in the sea areas under China’s jurisdiction remained at a good level in 2017. The quality status of the seabed sediments in the sea areas under China’s jurisdiction is generally good. There has been no obvious change in such dominant groups as plankton, benthos and mangrove plants nor has their natural distribution pattern changed. The target groups of protection in the national-level marine natural or special protected areas basically remain stable.

Meanwhile, the environmental status of different oceanic functional zones basically meets the requirements for use. The environmental status in the ocean dumping areas also remains stable while dumping activities have not had an obvious influence on the ecological and environmental situation in the surrounding marine areas or on other marine activities.

The water status of the bathing beaches, the coastal tourist zones and the aquacultural zones, which have been the focus of monitoring, basically complies with the requirement on the exploitation of sea resources.

In addition, the rate of up-to-standard sewage discharges of the drain outlets on the land that drain into the ocean has gradually increased. The influenced areas of red and green tides have been drastically reduced. The total sea area affected by red tides in 2017 is about 3,600 square kilometers—a reduction of more than over 50 percent.

The report suggests that the costal sea areas of China face several major environmental challenges. First of all, the pollution in the coastal sea areas is still severe. The sea water quality in China is graded from level 1 to level 4. Level 1 represents the highest level of water quality. However, in the four seasons of 2017, the coastal sea areas with water quality worse than level 4 account for, respectively, 16, 14, 11 and 15 percent of China’s entire coastal sea areas. Of all the 44 bays covering respectively more than 100 square kilometers, 20 have detected a water quality inferior to level 4 in all four seasons of 2017.

Meanwhile, the health status of typical oceanic ecosystems is unsatisfactory. Of all the 20 types of typical oceanic ecosystems, including estuary, bay, beach wetland and coral reef, 16 are in a sub-healthy or unhealthy status.

The pollution brought by the seagoing rivers is still a notable risk. The water quality at the sea entrances of the 55 rivers that have been monitored for years is still unsatisfactory. About 36 percent of the 55 rivers show a water quality inferior to the level 4 in normal seasons.

 

(edited by MA YUHONG)