At the National Maritime Work Conference held on Sunday, the director of the State Oceanic Administration, Wang Hong, said that enhancing protection of the country's shoreline is a priority task.

According to Wang Hong, coastal provinces, regions and cities should draw up annual plans for protecting their shoreline, and the natural shoreline retention rate will be incorporated into the evaluation of the local government's performance.

Provinces, regions and cities that fail to pass the shoreline assessment will be forbidden from applying for new ocean usage.

The government of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, for example, has recently approved a "red line" plan for protecting the provincial-level region's shoreline.

According to the plan, the retention rate of the natural continental shoreline in Guangxi should be no less than 35 percent, while the retention rate of island shoreline should be no less than 85 percent.

On the other hand, the central government's fourth environmental protection inspection found that natural shoreline in Hainan province has been seriously damaged due to illegal land reclamation and unreasonable aquaculture, which has drawn wide public concern.