Overall seawater quality continued to improve in China in 2022, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment at a press conference on Monday.

The area of Category I seawater quality in 2022 accounts for 97.4 percent of the total area under the country's jurisdiction, which is generally stable, said the ministry's spokesperson Hu Songqin.

Based on different utilization and protection objectives of the sea areas, the quality of seawater is divided into four categories. Category I applies to waters for marine fishery, marine nature reserves and endangered marine life reserves.

Since 2022, marine ecological and environmental protection has been carried out in different aspects, such as nitrogen treatment, monitoring of sewage discharge outlets and investigation of ocean pollution baseline, Hu said.

To better implement marine ecological and environmental protection during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China released the basic requirements and reference indicators of "beautiful bay" construction, Hu added, and eight coastal provinces, including Liaoning, Hebei and Shandong, released their construction plans at a provincial level.

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