Lingding Yang area could disappear within decades
Industrial dumping and aggressive land reclamation in the waters west of the Pearl River Delta would drastically alter the region's coastline and hinder the area's future development, according to an official study.
Water quality in Lingding Yang, a shallow bay at the mouth of the Pearl River, was deteriorating rapidly, the study by Guangdong's Marine Geological Survey Department showed.
It warned that the region's ecosystem would be permanently damaged if no immediate corrective measures were taken. Some mainland scientists even predicted the entire Lingding Yang - which covers sea areas west of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan , Zhuhai and Macau - could disappear within decades.
Four areas with particularly high pollution levels are Shenzhen Bay between Hong Kong and Shenzhen; Dachang Bay west of Shenzhen; Jiaoyi Bay off the coast of Humen; and Zhuhai Bay near Zhuhai and Macau.
'Both the water and the seabed are heavily polluted. If we don't strengthen our environmental-protection measures, it will be very difficult to restore [the ecosystem],' Nanfang Daily quoted researcher Xia Zhen as saying.
The three-year study was conducted extensively in Lingding Yang waters. Researchers found the coastlines of the Pearl River Delta had been greatly changed in the past 20 years because of massive land reclamation, extensive fish farming and construction of harbour terminals.