Ocean Sentry
(From en.epochtimes.com) China – At present there are over 200 offshore bodies of water in China that are seriously contaminated. There are many different kinds of these contaminants. Once such a contaminant enters a body of water, it will quickly cause oxygen deficiency, killing sea birds and marine lives.
The result is the creation of large “ocean deserts” or “dead sea” areas—that is, areas with low oxygen levels. The East China Sea is one of the largest “ocean deserts” in the world. Marine lives cannot exist there for lack of oxygen. When the oxygen level in sea water decreases to three milligrams per liter, most stocks of fish and shellfish will either leave or die of suffocation.
The samples collected from the sea floors revealed that one third of the explored water area had no meiofauna, or small invertebrates that live at the sea bottom, indicating a serious “desertification” of the ocean floors.
As China’s pollution intensifies, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous are pouring into the sea from the Yangtze River. Experts think the excessive nutrient salts lead to the fast growth of different varieties of seaweed.
Given the right temperature and light, seaweed can spread to form “red tide.” Ultimately, the seaweed, having absorbed all the nutrients, starts to fall toward the sea bottom where it becomes food for bacteria. This process consumes large amounts of oxygen, and thus an area of oxygen deficiency comes into being.
Two years ago, Chinese ocean experts had warned that if no timely measures were taken to deal with pollution, the Bohai Sea would become a “dead sea” in a decade or even sooner. They estimated that even if sewage stopped draining into the Bohai Sea immediately, it would probably take at least 200 years for the water to become as clean as it once was.
(By Wen Long)
