Shanghai and Zhejiang Province, powerhouses of China's rapid economic growth, have the most serious sea pollution among China's 11 coastal provinces, autonomous region and municipalities, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration. And the East China Sea, which Shanghai and Zhejiang face, is the most heavily polluted sea among four Chinese seas. Shandong Province, which faces the Yellow Sea, and Guangxi and Hainan facing the South China Sea, have cleaner waters. According to a SEPA report issued in March 2003, offshore fishery in China suffered economic losses amounting to at least 232 million yuan (about US$28 million) due to the sea pollution in 2002. The Law on Marine Environmental Protection, promulgated in 1982 and revised in 1999, went into effect in April 2000. The revised law provides detailed regulations on the monitoring, supervision, investigation, assessment and scientific research of the marine environment, the building of marine pollution prevention and control projects and marine waste dumping control. One of the clean ocean projects in recent years is the Green Bohai Bay Action Plan. The plan provides limitations on offshore oil and gas fields, discharge of wastes into the sea by ships, and dumping of waste in the ocean. The State Oceanic Administration in 2002 organized over 300 oceanic experts and technical personnel to carry out wide research on oceanic ecology.
