The coastal view of Yantai, Shandong province [Photo/IC]

Zhuwang village in Laizhou, Yantai city of Shandong province might be located right next to the sea, but it was not until recently that villagers were able to spot jellyfish in the waters.

The reason for this, said Yang Jingzhou, deputy Party secretary of Zhuwang village, is the relentless efforts provincial authorities have made in recent years to improve the marine environment.

"Jellyfish will only appear where the water quality is good," he explained.

Twenty years ago, the influx of marine aquaculture projects to the region brought wealth and prosperity to the villagers. But this also created extensive pollution and severely damaged the marine environment.

A few years ago, authorities implemented a slew of measures to tackle this issue. One of the measures was enhancing filtration, centralized water storage and sedimentation purification to ensure that all discharge from the industry is harmless to the environment.

Another measure is mandating aquaculture companies and breeders to adopt energy saving and emission reduction measures and pivot from single breeding to mixed farming.

Thanks to these measures, there are now 445 breeding ponds in the park that have achieved harmless discharge of tailwater, said Jia Hongsong, a member of the Party group of the Laizhou branch at Yantai ecological environment bureau.

In fact, 90 percent of the coastal waters in the province are now deemed to have excellent water quality.

Shandong has also been ramping up efforts to accelerate the restoration of the marine environment. The beach in Hailong Bay in Rizhao, for instance, is the first port shoreline in China to be turned into an ecological tourist destination.