Growing number of factories in nearby provinces causes pollution
More than 2.8 billion tons of waste water is discharged into China's Bohai Sea annually, severely damaging the local environment, a report said on Monday.
Aside from the waste water, 700,000 tons of other pollutants are dumped into the Bohai Sea per year. Altogether, the Bohai Sea receives roughly half of all pollutants in China's waters, Beijing-based Economic Information Daily reported.
That has severely affected the local fishing industry, causing fishing resources to shrink dramatically from 30,000 tons to between 1,000 to 3,000 tons.
A growing number of factories in Hebei, Liaoning and Shandong provinces and Tianjin Municipality had contributed to the pollution.
It was reported that waters close to the Longkou Paper Manufacturing plant in Shandong Province and Huludao Zinc Factory in Liaoning Province had turned so toxic that the nearby seabed had become "a desert" with no marine life.
"The dense population and heavy industries in the Bohai Sea Economic Zone have led to large amounts of garbage and industrial pollutants going straight to the sea," Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times.
More than 260 million people live in the Bohai Sea Economic Zone.
According to a report on the state of marine life in Hebei Province in 2014, the water from 72 percent of sewage outlets to the sea failed to meet quality standards.
"The development of the maritime industry has also polluted the Bohai Sea. For example, harbor construction and ship oil also affect the waters directly," said Ma.
The Tangshan and Qinhuangdao harbors, both in the Bohai Sea area, are ranked fourth and ninth nationwide in terms of container flow capacity, with more than 253,000 vessels plying the sea, Economic Information Daily reported.
Analysts have attributed the ecological deterioration to the lack of local government regulations as well as the lack of coordination and cooperation between different regions surrounding the sea.
Zhang Meizhi, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from Hebei Province, said many cities surrounding the Bohai Sea have failed to assign people to tackle maritime pollution.
She said maritime pollution monitoring teams have limited resources or lack manpower.
Analysts have also urged the enactment of a specific law to tackle pollution in the Bohai Sea.
"Local authorities need to strengthen supervision and increase penalties on enterprises' pollution discharge," said Ma.
