Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

THE South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Sunday apologized for posting an unfinished environment assessment report online and vowed to investigate the case and keep those responsible for the mishap accountable.

In the environmental impact assessment report on a dredging project planned at Shenzhen Bay, the institute used an assessment report about Zhanjiang Port as a template. When released on the official Shenzhen transport bureau website for public feedback, the report had kept “Zhanjiang” in the text unchanged.

The careless errors drew wide criticism from netizens who suspected the report was plagiarized from a report on Zhanjiang Port which detailed the 2018 renovation of a navigation route for 300,000 tons of vessels at the other Guangdong port.

In the preliminary investigation report, the institute said its team had conducted on-site surveys, collected Shenzhen Bay oceanic and habitat data, and made simulation calculations. But in the qualitative analysis, the report used the term “Zhanjiang Port” as in the original template then mistakenly submitted the unfinished report online for public review.

After the loophole was exposed last week, Shenzhen demanded the China Communication Planning and Design Institute for Waterway Transportation to terminate the contract with the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In a release Saturday, the Shenzhen Navigation Route Affairs Center, the contract-issuing party of the Shenzhen Bay dredging project, said the center had reported the suspected plagiarism to the planning authority and apologized to the public for the problems found in the assessment report.

The South China Sea Institute of Oceanology admitted Saturday that the report was authored by engineers at the institute and stated that an investigation is now under way.