One of China's most important fishing areas is shrinking despite the efforts of government officials to reverse its decline.
Nearly $146 million was spent three years ago to tackle pollution in Qingdao's Jiaozhou Bay, Shandong province.
But provincial fishing authorities admitted last week that the money has failed to reverse a steep decline in its ecological condition, requiring more remedial measures.
The Shandong Fishery Bureau says the bay has shrunk from 560 square miles to 362 square miles over the past 75 years, while the number of seafood species has fallen from 54 to just 17 over the past half century due to imbalances in the biological environment.
It has announced new measures to prevent pollution from waste water, prevent serious oil leakages and establish a breeding area for rare species.
According to statistics, annual inflow of industrial waste into the bay currently stands at 73 million tons, while a million tons of rubbish finds its way into the waters.
The news follows the announcement earlier this month of a range of new green policies across the province, although no new figures have been released for the cost of this new investment.
Qingdao is one of the most important seafood export cities in Shandong province, accounting for one third of the province's total exports.
Northeast Shandong is China's top fishing province, producing $7 billion of seafood last year, almost 19 percent of China's ocean-related gross domestic product.
