China’s Coral Reefs Deteriorates At Expense of Booming Economy – Study

A study of the activity in the South China Sea reefs has shown the corals have greatly deteriorated at the expense of the economic growth activities in mainland China.

China may have experienced more than 30 years of unrestrained economic growth, enough for it to be labeled as the world's second-largest economy, but this same economic surge did not come without a price.

In the joint survey of the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, it was discovered that as China zoomed to economic greatness over the past 30 years, more than 80 per cent of its coral reefs have likewise shrunk, all due to coastal development, pollution and overfishing.

"We found that coral abundance has declined by at least 80 per cent over the past 30 years on coastal fringing reefs along the Chinese mainland and adjoining Hainan Island," the study, published in the latest edition of the journal Conservation Biology, said.

"On offshore atolls and archipelagos claimed by six countries in the South China Sea, coral cover has declined from an average of greater than 60 per cent to around 20 per cent within the past 10-15 years," the study further pointed out.

Moreover, the coral loss in the South China Sea was being compounded by the lack of cooperation among the countries laying territorial claims over the area. These countries include China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, the study said. Because each country has its own agenda on the area, conservation and management make it all the more difficult.

The South China Sea's oil-rich islands contain reefs that stretch across some 30,000 square kilometers or 12,000 square miles.

The joint Australia-China study noted the coastal development, pollution and overfishing as culprits to the decline, degradation and destruction of the reefs.

"China's ongoing economic expansion has exacerbated many wicked environmental problems, including widespread habitat loss due to coastal development, unsustainable levels of fishing and pollution," the study said.

"Climate change has affected these reefs far less than coastal development, pollution, overfishing, and destructive fishing practises. Ironically, these widespread declines in the condition of reefs are unfolding as China's research and reef-management capacity are rapidly expanding," researchers said.

Terry Hughes, study author, said recovery efforts, if at all, might prove too late to save the corals.

"Typically, when a coral reef degrades it is taken over by seaweeds and from there, experience has shown, it is very hard to return it to its natural coral cover. The window of opportunity to recover the reefs of the South China Sea is closing rapidly, given the state of degradation revealed in this study," he said.