Panjin protects its marine resources

Panjin, a prefecture-level city in Liaoning province, has been restoring and protecting its marine ecology as part of efforts to promote high-quality development.

The city, with 107 kilometers of coastline, is known for its abundant wetlands and mud flats. It is home to the Red Beach Wetland, known for its large areas of reeds that turn red in autumn, and the Geligang Mud Flat, known for producing quality clams.

Wetlands in Panjin, covering a total of 2,496 square kilometers, have been the habitat for 450 types of wild animals. They provide resting places for migrating red-crowned cranes and breeding grounds for spotted seals and Saunders's gulls, which are a very small species of gull with a black bill and red legs.

The wetland area at the estuary of the Liaohe River is one of the best-preserved wetlands in the world, according to local officials.

In recent years, the Panjin government has implemented stringent protection measures to protect wetlands. It started an ecological restoration project to turn wetlands, which had been used for aquaculture in previous years, back into natural wetlands. As of the end of August, a total of 5,726 hectares of wetlands have been restored, accounting for 15 percent of the total wetlands in the city. The local government said the project is one of the largest wetland restoration projects in China in terms of scale and will play a significant role in restoring the ecological system in Liaodong Bay.

Protection and restoration have also been carried out in mud flat areas in Panjin.

In the Geligang Mud Flat area, local government will release a certain number of clam seedlings every year, based on scientific investigations, to prevent marine resources from drying up. Those clams will also help to improve water quality in the area, according to local government.

Currently, the total number of clams in the area is around 100,000 metric tons. The area can supply about 5,000 tons of quality clams to the market every year, according to the Panjin government.

Panjin's efforts in promoting ecological construction has been recognized by national authorities. It has been recognized as a national-level gardenlike city and a national-level sanitary city.

Panjin's Red Beach Wetland was selected as one of the six most beautiful wetlands in China by the Chinese National Geography magazine.

The city's Dawa district, Panshan county and Shuangtaizi district have been recognized as national-level ecology and civilization construction demonstration areas.

Earlier this year, Panjin started working toward accreditation to become an international wetland city.