Guanhu Beach in Kuichong, Dapeng New Area, in eastern Shenzhen has been selected as one of the nine beaches in Guangdong Province to pilot the Clean Beach program.

It was unveiled in a notice by the provincial authorities on developing activities to jointly build beautiful beaches in Guangdong in the year 2020 to mark yesterday’s World Oceans Day.

The coastal cities in Guangdong, led by Guangdong Provincial Ecology and Environment Department, are required to set up a joint mechanism to ensure cleanliness and sanitation of their beaches, the notice by the department said.

The beaches under the program will set an example in ocean pollution prevention, garbage collection and treatment, and floating garbage monitoring, supervision and investigation.

Statistics in 2019 showed 87.2 percent of the offshore seawater quality at 242 monitoring stations across Guangdong had reached excellent and fairly good levels.

The monitoring results of five swimming beaches in Guangdong, including Qing’ao Bay in Shantou, Dameisha and Xiaomeisha beaches in Shenzhen, Feishatan Beach in Zhuhai, and Zhapo Beach in Yangjiang, indicated that Xiaomeisha Beach was the best among the five, as 100 percent of days between June and September had good water quality.

Shenzhen owns 1,145 square kilometers of sea area and 260 kilometers of coastline. As the first demonstration area of ocean comprehensive management and treatment, Shenzhen now has 34 law enforcement vessels. In addition, a 3,000-ton flagship vessel costing 377 million yuan (US$53.2 million) is under construction. The vessel, 115 meters in length and 15 meters in width, will be equipped with new-generation equipment for ocean cruising, satellite navigation, ship-borne helicopter and evidence collection.