Chinanews, Beijing, Sept. 7 – In various parts of China, the activities of reclaiming land from the sea are going too far. Large sea areas have been converted into land, causing a series of bad consequences to the coastal resources and ecological environment nearby.
Due to excessive reclamation, the length of coastal line has shrunk sharply. In Laizhou city in Shandong, for example, because of the large-scale reclamation activities, the coastal line near the Sandao Island and Laizhou Bay has decreased by 25 kilometers from the 1980s, or one-fifth of the total local coastal line. Recent maps taken by a sensing machine show that in Shandong, the length of the coastal line is 500 kilometers shorter than it was twenty years ago.
Reclamation has also led to degradation of the marine eco-environment. It is certain that without a proper plan, reckless reclamation should destroy the ecological environment of the swamps, mangroves, coral reefs, and estuaries near the sea. Biodiversity will also be affected. In Guangxi, two-thirds of the mangrove forests have already disappeared.
Excessive reclamation has also led to degradation of fishing resources. Reclamation over large areas has destroyed the aquatic environment of the sea, changing the migration cycle of fishes. Animal habitat and fishing areas have also suffered and fishing resources have decreased substantially. In the Clam Island in Zhuanghe city, Liaoning, there used to be rich fishing resources. However, construction of the Liandao Dam has changed the ecological environment there completely. Large amounts of sediments have formed nearby, causing ecological degradation. The number of clams has decreased substantially and the Clam Island is now no longer worthy of its name.
Unduly reclamation has made the coastal area vulnerable to natural disasters. In Wuli and Zhanhua counties in Shandong, reclamation activities have made the coastal line retreat 10 kilometers from its original place. The intertidal zone has become much smaller. In 1997 and 2003, the two counties were hit by a large windstorm rarely seen in local history, causing an economic loss worth 2.8 billion yuan.
