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China Sets up 73 Marine Nature Reserves
China has set up 73 nature reserves off its coast in the past several decades to protect marine diversity from environmental pollution, excess fishing and other unfavorable influence.
Wang Fei, director of the Marine Environmental Protection Department with the State Oceanic Administration, said Monday that state- designated nature reserves aim to protect marine diversity under serious threat in the past four decades.
The reserves, covering 140,000 ha, are located off the coast of the island province of Hainan in the tropical south to Liaoning Province in the northeast.
"Excess fishing, environmental pollution, the introduction of foreign species and other factors have put China's marine diversity under serious threat," the director said. "Nearly half of the coastal wetland are lost and 80 percent of the coral reefs are damaged to varying degrees", he added.
About 660,000 ha of intertidal zones or wetlands have been turned into farming land or other uses in massive development project in the past four decades, Wang said.
There are 20,278 varieties of marine species found in Chinese waters, including the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea.
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