Another Tragedy of the Commons: Chinese waters suffer from unregulated pollution and fishing

In China's race to catch up, industrial areas are growing the Chinese economy, but it's not good for all Chinese people. While factory owners and big business owners rake in the money, increasing China's GDP, much of the rest of the country still struggles. The environment is one victim of rapid industrialization, and its destruction is already hurting many Chinese people.

This article (click on the title to link to the article) describes how industrial waste is destroying the sea that used to provide many Chinese people with a source of food and income. Here are 3 examples listed in the article:

Yangjiao Port, located in Shouguang City of Shandong province, was once the area’s leading wholesale seafood market. Nowadays, business has nearly dried up. “There are no fish,” complained local fisherman Wang Dayou. “What is the use of this fish market?”

In Shuigou Village, at the estuary of the Zhangwei River, more than 2,000 villagers depend on the sea for a living. Before 1995, the water from the river was drinkable, but now it poisons ducks and geese. Most of the fish caught from the sea are dead, with loose scales that are easily shaken off. Fishers’ nets are weighed down not by golden harvests, but by the residues of dark oil and other debris that clings to the once-white threads.

In Wudi County, the two best-preserved shorelines for shells, which extend roughly 70 kilometers along the coast, were once a popular nesting spot for migratory birds. But they have long since lost their vitality. Area residents (historically, China’s first rural residents to become “better-off” due to the ocean’s rich offerings) have seen their per-capita incomes plummet from more than US$1,200 a year to a meager $200.

Could China's rapid, poorly planned growth eventually lead to economic decline or collapse?