China has outlined progress in its nationwide campaign to enhance the coastal environment and intensify measures against marine pollution. You Yang reports.

It's called the "Beautiful Bays" campaign.

The initiative encompasses water quality improvement, marine life recovery, natural coastline protection, and restoration for all 1,467 ocean bays by 2035.

The Chinese Ecology and Environment Ministry on Monday said it's ramping up measures to reach this goal.

Eight coastal provinces, including Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian have pulled their weight, establishing comprehensive plans to achieve this objective.

HU SONGQIN Deputy Director, Department of Marine Ecology & Environment Chinese Ecology and Environment Ministry "In 2022, out of the 283 bays in China, 144 bays had over 85 percent of their area achieving excellent water quality. The ratio of excellent quality water in 90 bays also increased year-on-year."

Meanwhile, China is advancing its third baseline survey of marine pollution this year to identify new issues and develop coping measures.

Previous surveys were conducted in 1976 and 1996.

WANG JUYING Director National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center "Our third baseline survey of marine pollution has drawn extensively from the experience gained in the previous two surveys. The methods employed will include the use of high-tech technologies such as satellite remote sensing and drone aerial photography. The survey will also pay more attention to efforts identifying both traditional and new pollutants, as well as focus on investigating the environmental situation and ecological impacts along the coastline."

In light of Japan's recent move to release nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, the ministry maintained its previous statement that this action is extremely selfish and irresponsible.

It also reaffirmed its commitment to closely monitor the potential impact on China's marine radiation environment, all while safeguarding China's national interests and the health of its people.

YOU YANG Beijing "Outlining its future plans, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment says that it will continue to promote the construction of scenic bays, enhance pollution prevention and control in surface seawater and push forward ecological restoration efforts in coastal regions. You Yang, CGTN, Beijing."