Today, the "Investigation and Assessment Report on the Ecological Environment Status of the Waters around Huangyan Dao" was released. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a media briefing to introduce the relevant information.

The **st "comprehensive physical examination" of the ecological environment of the waters around Huangyan Dao

　　From May to June 2024, three institutions—the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, the National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, and the Monitoring and Research Center of the Pearl River Basin and South China Sea Bureaus under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment—established a specialized survey team and systematically carried out on-site investigations of the ecological environment status of the waters around Huangyan Dao. The investigation covered seawater quality, sediment quality, biological quality, marine litter, as well as coral communities, reef-dwelling fish, and typical biological groups. In conjunction with two key laboratories from Guangxi University and the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the team also conducted a comprehensive analysis and assessment of relevant scientific expedition surveys and research results on the waters around Huangyan Dao over the years, as well as satellite remote sensing survey results. This constitutes the **st "comprehensive physical examination" of the ecological environment of the waters around Huangyan Dao.

　　The results show that the environmental quality of the waters around Huangyan Dao is excellent: seawater quality and marine sediment quality both meet Class I standards, and the residual levels of pollutants such as heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons in fish samples are all below the evaluation standard limits. The coral reef ecosystem is healthy, the reef-building stony coral communities are in good condition, and the species diversity of reef-building stony corals is rich.

Four new findings from this investigation and assessment

　　The investigation empirically confirmed for the first time that cyanide was not detected in seawater, sediments, or fish in Huangyan Dao and its surrounding waters; it produced the first estimate of the pollution level of marine floating litter in the waters around Huangyan Dao, whose average density is at a relatively low level compared with other offshore waters internationally; it recorded and analyzed the status of reef-dwelling fish around Huangyan Dao for the first time; and it conducted the first quantitative investigation and analysis of the habitat density of giant clams, and discovered important ecological groups such as blue corals, milleporas, and soft corals.