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The gross output value of Chinas marine industries increased year by year. In 2006, it reached ~US$275 billion, an increase of 13.97% over the previous year, accounting for 10.01% of Chinas gross domestic product (GDP). The added value of the marine industries was ~US$162.1 billion and their percentage in GDP rose to 4.01%. The situation of the marine environment was still stern. The pollution of nearshore areas had not yet been improved, the water quality of most offshore sea areas was good, and the water quality of deep-sea areas maintained a good state. The sea areas where water failed to meet the clean seawater quality standard covered an area of ~149,000 km2, an increase of ~10,000 km2 over the previous year. The seriously polluted sea areas were still mainly distributed in the Liaodong Gulf, Bohai Gulf, Yangtze estuary, Hangzhou Bay, nearshore zone of Jiangsu, Zhujiang estuary (Zhujiangkou) and local nearshore areas of some large and medium-sized cities. The year of 2006 was a year with serious marine hazards in China and the task of prevention and reduction of marine hazards was arduous. A total of 179 marine hazards such as storm surges, sea waves, sea ice, red tides and tsunamis happened and the direct economic loss caused by them totaled 21.845 billion yuan (~US$2866 million). The hazard caused by storm surges (including nearshore typhoon waves) was the main marine hazard in 2006, inflicting a direct economic loss of 21.711 billion yuan (~US$2857 million). The Sea Area Use Management Law (2002) has been promulgated and implemented for five years and the actions without order, restraint or compensation that have long plagued the rational development of marine resources and sound development of marine economy in China has been preliminarily held in check. In 2006, a total of 8759 copies of certificates of sea area use right were issued and the right of using 227,000 hectares of sea areas was confirmed. The management of sea areas was more law-based. The State Council set forth the Regulations on the Management of the Prevention and Control of Marine Environmental Pollution Damage by Marine Construction Projects, completed the formulation of the Eleventh Five-Year Program for the Development of Marine Undertakings (Draft), promulgated the Outline of the Eleventh Five-Year Development Program of Marine Science and Technology, advanced the formulation of the Law on Sea Island Protection, accelerated the construction of the legal system related to things rights of sea areas and approved Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian as provincial-level marine functional divisions. The national-scale marine environmental monitoring system was further sound and special monitoring agencies were set up in 11 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, as well as 46 prefecture-level cities and cities specifically designated in the state plan. The implementation of the Sea Area Use Demonstration Project of One Hundred Counties was advanced and the chain of the sea area use management extended to the level of townships step by step. Five inter-provincial sea area boundaries such as the Fujian-Guangdong line and 198 inter-county sea area boundaries were surveyed and demarcated. |
