A newly issued report gives another morning call of the deteriorating oceanic ecology in Yangtze River Delta. Another 6540 kilometers and 8520 kilometers of sea were polluted "seriously" and "extremely seriously" respectively.

In 2004, China has set up 15 monitoring zones in its offshore areas which are identified as ecologically vulnerable and sensitive. Two of them, one at the mouth of the Yangtze River and the other in Hangzhou Bay, indicate "unhealthy" ecological environment.

Among the coastal provinces and cities, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu rank the first three in the two main indicators of sea pollution, the average content of inorganic nitrogen and Phosphate phosphorus.

The local and national administration and research institutes for oceanic ecology are working on a report on a project for the offshore ecologic environment in the Yangtze River Delta. It is estimated that the project, which is expected to be a national undertaking, will cost more than 10 billion yuan.

The three sites have held a number of workshops to discuss the protection of ecological environment in the Pearl River Delta. They signed an agreement December last year on the cooperation on an initiative to improve the situation.

Experts say the initiative is only a temporary solution while a permanent one lies in a ecological friendly economy.

By People's Daily Online