The average density of microplastics in coastal waters is at a medium-low level
On May 26, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a routine press conference, at which Wang Juying, director of the National Marine Environment Monitoring Center, introduced that the state of China's Marine ecological environment in 2021 was stable and getting better, and the overall sea water quality continued to improve. In 2021, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will organize Marine litter monitoring in 51 regions of China, and Marine microplastics monitoring will be carried out in 6 representative sections near the sea. Compared with the results of similar international surveys in recent years, the average density of Marine litter and microplastics in coastal waters is at a medium to low level.
The State of China's Marine ecological environment in 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the Communique) shows that the state of China's Marine ecological environment in 2021 is stable and improving. The overall quality of the Marine environment continued to improve, with 97.7 percent of the sea areas under its jurisdiction meeting the quality standards for Category I seawater, up 0.9 percentage points year on year. The proportion of coastal waters with good water quality (Class I and II) was 81.3%, up 3.9 percentage points year on year. The waters of poor quality four were mainly distributed in Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, Yangtze River Estuary, Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang coast and Pearl River Estuary, and the main indicators exceeding the standard were inorganic nitrogen and active phosphate. Typical Marine ecosystems are in a healthy or sub-healthy state. The water quality of rivers entering the sea in China is generally slightly polluted. The environmental quality of the areas mainly used by the sea is generally good.
In view of the problem of Marine litter, Wang Juying introduced that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment optimized and improved the monitoring points of Marine litter and microplastics, and organized Marine litter monitoring in 51 regions in China in 2021, and Marine microplastics monitoring in 6 representative sections of offshore areas. The results show that plastic is the main type of Marine litter in China. Among floating sea surface litter, beach litter and seabed litter, plastic waste accounts for 92.9%, 75.9% and 83.3% respectively. The average density of Marine microplastics in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea monitoring sections was 0.74, 0.54, 0.22 and 0.29 per cubic meter, respectively, with an average of 0.44 per cubic meter. Compared with the results of similar international surveys in recent years, the average density of Marine litter and offshore microplastics in China's coastal waters is at a medium to low level. Wang Juying said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment attaches great importance to the problem of Marine plastic pollution and has taken active measures to prevent and control it. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the control of plastic pollution and the Action Plan for the control of plastic Pollution in the 14th Five-Year Plan to vigorously promote the control of plastic pollution and reduce the generation of Marine plastic waste from the source. At the same time, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has intensified its monitoring work and carried out Marine microplastic monitoring in key estuaries to comprehensively grasp the distribution of Marine plastic waste and microplastics in China.
In addition, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has extended the monitoring of Marine garbage to coastal prefecture-level cities, and will gradually expand the monitoring to coastal areas and counties. It will also incorporate the governance work into the overall deployment of the pollution prevention and control battle, constantly consolidate the main responsibility of the local government's plastic waste management and supervision, and incorporate the implementation of the responsibility for the prevention and control of plastic waste into the central ecological environmental protection supervision. In terms of strengthening public participation and international cooperation, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has actively promoted public participation in the clean beach action and joined hands with other countries to deal with the problem of plastic pollution.