Sansha funds ecological protection

China's Sansha city has decided to allocate 5 million yuan ($748,000) annually for maritime environmental conservation in the next three years.

A first round of special environmental funding worth 1 million yuan was earmarked on Saturday for exploration of the newly confirmed world's deepest underwater sinkhole, or blue hole, in the Xisha Islands. The blue hole in Yongle, a major coral reef, is 300.89 meters deep. It is known as Longdong, or "Dragon Hole".

The funds will be used to support scientific research and development of new methods and equipment in environmental protection, said Shi Guoning, a senior official in Sansha's Land Resources and Environmental Protection Bureau.