China launches research base in S China Sea

MANBU ANSHA, South China Sea - A maritime fishery resource breeding and research base has been established Thursday by China's southernmost province of Hainan in sea waters of Zhongsha Islands in the South China Sea.

The base is the first approved scientific program since Sansha City was officially established in July 2012.

The base, located in the Manbu Ansha area, a submerged shoal in the Zhongsha Islands, covers a sea area of 625 hectares, said Li Xiangmin, director of the Hainan provincial aquaculture research institute.

Aquaculture researchers will put 20,000 grouper fry, 20,000 spats of pearl oysters, 20,000 spats of pteria penguin, a genus of winged oyster, and 20,000 pieces of red seaweeds eucheuma into the sea for research, Li said.

Researchers will carry out a field investigation and scientific research activities on the meteorological, hydrological and topographic conditions, maritime species, submarine grassland and coral reefs in the Manbu Ansha area over the next three days, he said.

Home to about 1,000 residents, Sansha was officially set up to administer about 2.6-million-square-km islands, coastal areas and territorial seas in the South China Sea.

The city gets its name from three island groups under its jurisdiction - Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha - and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea.