Sea environment worsening: data

Increasing discharge of pollutants and booming offshore human activity, such as oil exploration, are worsening China's fragile marine environment, according to an annual report released by the country's ocean watchdog.

The severely polluted sea area surged to 44,000 square kilometers in China in 2011 from 25,000 sq km in 2003, according to China's 2011 marine environment report released on Monday by the State Oceanic Administration.

Li Xiaoming, director of the department of marine environment protection at the administration, blamed overdevelopment in the coastal area for the country's worsening water quality.