Farmers think oil leak is killing scallops

BEIJING - As ConocoPhillips and China's ocean watchdog try to control the spread of oil leaks in a gulf of the Yellow Sea, fishers in North China's Hebei province are complaining that the disaster has caused the death of a large number of scallops.

"Because of the leak, about 70 percent of the scallops seedlings in Laoting county (Hebei province) have been found dead since late June, and the total economic loss for the local fishing industry is expected to reach 350 million yuan ($54 million)," Yang Jizhen, chairman of the Laoting fisheries association, told China Daily on Monday.

The recent oil leak in Bohai Bay was first discovered on June 4 and a subsequent one was learned of on 17. Both originated from the bay's Penglai 19-3 oilfield.