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July 4, 2015

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Overexploitation, pollution threaten coasts

DEPLETED fisheries and pollution have left Wu Ruiwei and his peers from Qiaogang Town in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with less fish and shrimp to catch in their usual fishing spots.

“When I was a child, our boat could be filled immediately with fish in one net near the port. But now only small fish can be found,” says fisherman Fan Chengjin.

Wu says he shares Fan’s worries. He was able to earn at least 300,000 yuan (about US$48,400) annually five years ago.

“Without the country’s diesel subsidies to fishermen, I would be losing money now.” Wu says.

There are more than 10,000 fishermen in Qiaogang, accounting for over 60 percent of the town’s population. In order to survive, some have had to fish farther from shore, while others have left the industry.

In addition to depleted fish stocks, Wu says excessive coastal development and pollution have degraded the marine environment.

Hainan Province, an island the size of Belgium, has earned a reputation as an excellent holiday destination, leading to a local economic boom. However, swarms of tourists and overdevelopment of coastlines have posed a serious risk to its marine ecology.

Researchers say more than 90 percent of the island’s east coast has been used for real estate development.

Wang Ying, a marine geologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at a recent forum that mass construction of tourist facilities like hotels and scenic spots along the coast will lead to increased shoreline erosion.

A total of 4,200 meters of beaches east of Haikou City were eroded by seawater between 2009 and 2014, Wang said, adding bedrock was also exposed due to erosion along the beach near hotel and villa developments west of the city.

Pollution is another serious problem in China’s coastal areas.

Industrial and agricultural discharges, along with a jump in the amount of household garbage as the island urbanizes, are mostly to blame for the pollution.

“It is difficult to find pristine clear waters and white sandy beaches now,” a Hainan resident surnamed Luo says.

Her sentiment is supported by research. The majority of China’s coastal areas have unhealthy ecosystems due to heavy pollution, according to a report from the State Oceanic Administration.

Of the areas monitored by the administration in the summer of 2014, 81 percent, or 41,000 square kilometers, were polluted. According to the report, most of the polluted water was concentrated in river estuaries or sea bays. The main pollutants were inorganic nitrogen, reactive phosphate and oil.

Along with the rapid development of industry and cities, coastal pollution has caused frequent episodes of red tide, a harmful algal bloom, says Lu Shuguo, a researcher with the Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

Lu says 14 bays along Hainan’s 1,528-kilometer-long coastline are at risk for red tide, which may threaten the health of locals and damage the environment.

In his message on World Oceans Day on June 8, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said two out of five people in the world live near a shore, and three out of seven depend on marine and coastal resources to survive.

He called on people to use ocean resources peacefully, equitably and sustainably for generations to come.

To ease environmental strain, China has adopted measures including massive tree-planting and coral restoration campaigns, clamping down on illegal wastewater discharges, treating polluted rivers and launching public education activities.

Experts have called for local governments to enact rules and policies and evaluate the effects of projects near straits or islands before construction to prevent possible damage to the environment.

During this year’s fishing off-season in Guangxi, which lasts from May until August, Wu and other fishermen will gather to discuss their future: deep-sea fisheries.

“When there are fewer fish in the coastal areas, we have to go farther from shore,” he says, sighing. But he does not want to bring the problems of overfishing and pollution farther out to sea.

“I hope with technology and fishery management, the fisheries can be made sustainable and we do a better job of protecting our ocean,” he says.




 

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