China burying coral reefs

[AfterDark]

I couldn't find anything in this forum about this so thought I'd start a post check this out a couple of paragraphs I pulled from the long report.

» New China? | EpicTimes

Large numbers of Chinese vessels are moving to and from the Spratly Islands these days carrying all manner of construction material. Huge dredges, really giant sea-going vacuum cleaners, are parked in the area, sucking up sand from the bottom of the sea and spraying it onto the reefs. New land is emerging, and on it the Chinese are busily building military bases to cement their control of the disputed area.

The Chinese recently unveiled a new map of the nation, which prominently displays a new national border circumscribing some ninety percent of the area of the South China Sea. Chinese news organizations have also proudly touted the design for a new $5-billion artificial island envisioned to be a “super aircraft carrier” in the Spratlys. That the island in question will be well within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines does not seem to be a significant deterrent. The same reports have noted that the Chinese military has also drawn up plans for building a second base on another of the reefs in the area.


Apparently they are claiming large parts of the waters around them and are filling it in! Not very green of them is it?

Anybody else heard of this?

 

[Wingy]

More concerning is the building of artificial islands and dredging...it all comes down to the energy reserves below the seafloor.

 

[AfterDark]

More concerning is the building of artificial islands and dredging...it all comes down to the energy reserves below the seafloor.

Seems that China has the national will to do whatever it is they need to do to tap into energy reserves below the seafloor. Laying waste to large areas of ocean usually upsets some people but I've heard nothing of this until now, seems odd. Maybe it's a hoax?

 

[Wookie]

I don't know if it's a hoax, after all, we did it for years. They typically don't use sand as dredge fill, though, they use a massive cutter head dredge and place the still live coral in the shallow areas. The process stinks to high heaven as the dredged material dies. We have done this in a number of pristine reefs in the Pacific. Johnston Atoll

 

[AfterDark]

I don't know if it's a hoax, after all, we did it for years. They typically don't use sand as dredge fill, though, they use a massive cutter head dredge and place the still live coral in the shallow areas. The process stinks to high heaven as the dredged material dies. We have done this in a number of pristine reefs in the Pacific. Johnston Atoll

Why don't we do it any more? Did it not work?

 

[Wookie]

Why don't we do it any more? Did it not work?

It worked well, and if we needed a deeper harbor or a larger island for some reason, I expect we'd do it again.