2022 Marine Ecology & Environment Status Review

By CWR 21 July, 2023

Though overall coastal water quality remained stable, there’s still a lot of clean-up needed. Get the latest in our review and find out which sea’s Grade IV+ worsened by a whopping 388% and more

Seawater quality in China's coastal areas improved steadily between 2018-2022; Grade I-II waters showed a positive upward trend & Grade IV+ waters showed a downward trend
Nearly all of the major 4 seas’ Grade II-IV+ water figures have been fluctuating; Grade V+ waters have deteriorated, notably Bohai Sea’s, which increased a whopping 388%
MEE's marine environment protection work in the 14FYP will focus on the construction of beautiful bays (280+ already designated) & the strengthening of monitoring

On 29 May 2023, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) released the Bulletin of Marine Ecology and Environment Status of China in 2022 reporting that “the marine ecology and environment remains stable and is improving”.

Key highlights from the 2022 MEESC Bulletin are…

  • The overall water quality of the seas under jurisdiction “remained stable”. Sea areas with Grade I category slightly worsened from 97.7% in 2021 to 97.4% in 2022.
  • The overall seawater quality of coastal areas improved steadily. Coastal areas with “Excellent/Good” category (Grade I-II) improved from 81.3% in 2021 to 81.9% in 2022.
  • Grade IV+ category water is mainly distributed in inshore waters such as Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, Laizhou Bay, Yangtze Estuary, Hangzhou Bay, Pearl River Estuary, etc..
  • The overall water quality of rivers flowing into the sea across the country is in good status.
  • The overall marine environmental quality in the ocean dumping zone and oil/gas exploration zone remained stable.
  • The environmental quality of beaches and marine fishery areas is generally in good status.

We deep dive into seawater quality of China’s coastal areas below…

To better understand the terminology of seawater quality used by the report, please refer to the following list:

Grade I: suitable for fishery, ocean natural reserves & rare/endangered aquatic lives
Grade II: suitable for aquaculture, swimming, fit for direct human touch
Grade III: suitable for general use in industrial area and seaside tourist attraction
Grade IV: suitable for use in ports, and ocean development sites
Grade IV+: not suitable for any use

Coastal Area seawater quality continues to improve

Seawater quality in China’s coastal areas has been improving steadily. As shown in the chart above, there is an upward trend for “Excellent/Good” category (Grade I-II) between 2018 and 2022. Indeed, Grade I-II category slightly improved from 81.3% in 2021 to 81.9% in 2022; Grade IV+ also improved from 9.6% to 8.9%.

There’s been an upward trend for the “Excellent/Good” category (Grade I-II) between 2018 -2022

Sea areas under jurisdiction of China remained stable

Looking further away from coastal areas, the status of seas under China’s jurisdiction remained stable in 2022.

Quality remains stable but grades I & IV+ showed slight declines

The sea area meeting Grade I accounted for 97.4%, slightly worsened compared to 97.7% in 2021. The sea area meeting Grade IV+ also slightly worsened from 0.7% in 2021 to 0.8% in 2022.

 

As most of the seawater category is Grade I, we take a deeper look into the 4 major seas’ water that are worse than Grade I (Grade II-IV+) below.

East China Sea has the most area not meeting Grade I; South China Sea has the least

Although the overall seawater quality in China remained stable with the majority of Grade I category, there is still some cleaning-up to do for the four major seas – Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea.

All seas’ Grade II-IV+ water figures have been fluctuating except for the East China Sea…

…Grade V+ waters have also deteriorated, notably Bohai Sea’s, which increased a whopping 388%

In 2022, the East China Sea has the most sea area in Grade II-IV+ category with 28,940km² while South China Sea has the least with 9,540km². It is noteworthy that East China Sea’s  has been improving its sea areas in Grade II-IV+ category drastically since 2020 as shown in the top chart below; while for other seas, their Grade II-IV+ category have been fluctuating.

We take a closer look at the sea area with Grade IV+ category between 2021-2022. Only East China Sea improved its Grade IV+ category materially by 30%; On the other hand, Bohai, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea worsened by 388%, 83% and 63%, respectively.

In terms of percentage of Grade II-IV+, South China Sea has the most share of Grade IV+ category (47%) while Yellow Sea has the least (9%), as shown in the bottom chart below.

 

According to a press release by MEE, the work of marine ecological environment protection during the 14FYP will be focused on the construction of beautiful bays, which plays an important role to improve seawater quality in coastal areas.

14FYP will focus on constructing beautiful bays & strengthening monitoring

Nationwide, a total of 283 bays were designated to promote the construction of beautiful bays.

Going forward, China will be strengthening the monitoring of nearshore waters, beautiful bays and microplastic. China will also strengthen the operation and quality management of the monitoring system to support the construction of beautiful bays and the comprehensive management of key marine areas.

Further Reading

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Author: CWR
We believe regardless of whether we care for the environment that water risks affect us all – as investors, businesses and individuals. Water risks are fundamental to future decision making and growth patterns in global economies. Water scarcity has emerged as a critical sustainability issue for China's economy and since water powers the economy, we aim to highlight these risks inherent in each sector. In addition, we write about current trends in the global water industry, analyze changes occurring both regionally and globally, as well as providing explanations on the new technologies that are revolutionizing this industry.
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