Over 200 Chinese fishing ships have been dumping raw sewage into Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
According to a report in Insider, this has been confirmed by a US satellite imagery analysis firm called Simularity.
The firm’s CEO Liz Derr said the damage is quite severe where the dumped sewage can even be seen from space!
"The hundreds of ships that are anchored there are dumping raw sewage, every day onto the reefs they are occupying," said Derr during the presentation, adding "when the ships don't move, the poop piles up,” said Derr.
It's catastrophic
The report mentioned that the satellite images were between 2016 and 2021, where 236 Chinese vessels were recorded being motionless in the waters.
It added that a large amount of sewage will lead to the growth of phytoplankton in the water, which can cause oxygen shortages resulting in the death of coral reefs habitats.
"These bacteria consume oxygen that would normally be available to the fish, creating a 'dead zone,'" Simularity said in its report. Coral reefs take up to 10,000 years to form, and barrier reefs and atolls take between 100,000 and 30 million years to fully form.
"This is a catastrophe of epic proportions and we are close to the point of no return," said Derr.
To make matters worse, Simularity said even the fish stocks in South China Sea are affected due to this activity.
The report also cited a statement by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as saying that the matter is being verified and such acts, if true, are gravely detrimental to the marine ecology in the area.
We hope this report will lead to serious actions that will help the situation.