China is destroying the ocean, dumping tons of poop in sewage ships seen from space

[ansible]

Raw sewage discharged from more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels around the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea is causing extensive damage to coral reefs, Simularity, a US satellite imagery analysis firm, said Monday. "The sewage from the anchored ships in the Spratlys is damaging the reefs, and we can see this from space," Simularity founder and CEO Liz Derr said during a digital forum hosted by the Manila think tank Stratbase ADR Institute.

"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." The satellite images taken over five years — between May 14, 2016 and June 17, 2021— show a stark contrast in alga growth. Researchers found that 236 Chinese vessels were recorded motionless In the waters during that time period.

Peter Koning, vice president of sales at Simularity, told Insider in an email that it is not normal for vessels to stay motionless for such long periods, and that they have been monitoring the ships for months. Excess sewage encourages the growth of phytoplankton in the water, which can cause oxygen shortages. Without adequate oxygen supply in the water, coral reefs habitats can die.

"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," Derr said.

https://www.insider.com/chinese-ships-dumped-sewage-south-china-sea-see-from-space-2021-7

[lindysalsagal]

1. Sometimes I hate my species.

[roamer65]

5. Humanity is literally at war with itself.

Sadly, it’s going to get a LOT worse.

[Dream Girl]

2. They just don't give a shit. Life is cheap.

[Demovictory9]

6. Ewww

[Shermann]

7. Why can't they pipe their waste directly into the environment like we do? nt

[dalton99a]

8. Since nobody recognizes their bullshit territorial claims, they're treating the South China Sea like

a toilet and trashing the place

Vile assholes.

[pandr32]

11. +1

[alphafemale]

9. This OP is at least poking at the edge of racist

The Occidental nations are also all polluting.

What is the motive for trying to provoke Asian hatred?

[Crunchy Frog]

13. So some countries are off limits to criticism?

[alphafemale]

14. But some races are OK to demonize for you?

All developed countries are doing similar things.

There are already old Asian people being assaulted and murdered on our streets and you think continuing to stoke that white-hot hatred is an acceptable thing.

Racism is applauded on DU now so long as it is against Asians?

[Crunchy Frog]

15. I thought about making some sort of clever riposte to your unustified and unwarranted accusations

of somehow being a vicious violent racist, but decided not to stoop to that level.

You continue to carry on with your baseless accusations against other people (which could very well be a projection of your own violent, racist proclivities. I just don't know).

I won't waste anymore time engaging with you, and am putting you on ignore.

Bye.

[Boomerproud]

10. The future that I feared is now here.

[SWBTATTReg]

12. And they're over fishing in fishing grounds too, some countries in South America have

been chasing off Chinese fishing fleets off their coasts...China is one to not respect boundaries, etc. of literally anyone. I suspect that one day, this will explode. I do seem to recall that some Chinese fishing boats have been seized ...