Lin Min

    SHENZHEN Bay is a great asset to the city: It is of crucial ecological importance — the bay wetland enriches the city’s biodiversity while the bay helps prevent “a heat island” effect in western Shenzhen; historically, the bay served as a link between the areas that became Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

    The bay is also one of the crown jewels of the city’s tourism industry. It presents breathtaking sea views, especially since the construction of the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, Shenzhen Bay Stadium and the 15-km Shenzhen Bay Waterfront Promenade. To many people, Shenzhen Bay is the city’s equivalent of Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong.

    The bay was also an important influence over the authorities’ decision to move the opening ceremony of the 26th Universiade from Longgang to Shenzhen Bay Stadium. The waterfront views, especially the implication of the bay as the city’s window to the outside world, were believed to make the opening ceremony more memorable.

    But the stench of sediments brought by the ebbing tide at Shenzhen Bay has drawn attention to the plight of the bay, which shrank by nearly 25 square kilometers between 1997 and 2009 due to land reclamation projects. The area lost as a result of the projects accounted for 27 percent of the bay’s total area, according to Zhou Kai, an ocean environment expert and member of the city’s political advisory body. The shrunken bay means slower water circulation: originally a full seawater turnover took one day, but now it takes five to six days. According to Zhou, the bay is now only 2.9 meters deep, therefore the city may lose the bay in 170 years as sediments in the bay grow naturally at a rate of 1.9 cm a year.

    Land reclamation projects in Shenzhen Bay have resulted in sediment rising more than 30 centimeters in 10 years. It has also led to worsening water quality, which explains the stench. The poor water quality in Shenzhen Bay also threatens the Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve. Wang Yongjun, former head of the reserve, said Shenzhen’s remaining 300 hectares of mangrove forest could be destroyed within 60 years if sediment continues to rise at current speed.

    Reclamation projects may have given Shenzhen much-needed land in economic development in the past 30 years. But the ecological deterioration in Shenzhen Bay has sounded an alarm. As the country backs away from the single-minded pursuit of GDP and refocuses on environmental protection and people’s well-being, the city’s next move should be to improve the ecological conditions of Shenzhen Bay rather than exploit the bay for short-term economic benefits.

    There are no ongoing or pending reclamation projects in Shenzhen Bay, but the city’s legislature should enact regulations banning future reclamation projects there.

    Shenzhen River, Dasha River and many conduits that carry industrial waste and living sewage to the bay have been blamed for heavy metals and other pollutants. Law enforcers should step up efforts to prevent new pollution sources from threatening the bay.

    Experts have proposed the city conduct ecological restoration projects, such as introducing big algae, mollusk and decomposing microorganisms, which may help clean up silt in the bay. Some even proposed removing silt at crucial locations to enhance the bay water circulation capacity.

    The newly built Shenzhen Bay Park represents a good effort to beautify the bay area and make it a better tourist attraction. However, the park does not improve the ecological conditions of the bay. The city should do whatever is needed to keep the bay from deteriorating ecologically and drying up some day. This is a one-way journey — we cannot recreate Shenzhen Bay after it perishes.

    (The author is editor of the Shenzhen Daily News Desk.)