China is improving its monitoring of pollution being dumped into the sea, as 25 percent of its nearshore waters have been moderately or heavily polluted, said a senior official with the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) in Beijing on Wednesday.

SOA Director Sun Zhihui said China has improved its national monitoring system by establishing surveillance systems in 11 provinces and regions as well as 47 prefecture-level cities.

A recent report says that about 25 percent of China's nearshore waters have been moderately or heavily polluted. Almost 110,000 square kilometers of nearshore waters does not meet national standards for "clean" sea water, accounting for about 55 percent of the total area of China's nearshore waters.

Sun said that the SOA has worked with other departments to develop an environmental protection plan for the Bohai Sea, and finished the compiling of environmental protection plans for other coastal areas.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)