How has water pollution harmed aquaculture in Zhejiang?

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the aquaculture industry in Zhejiang has been negatively impacted by increased water pollution resulting from rapid industrialization in the province's small cities and towns.1

While the specific mechanisms of this harm in Zhejiang are attributed to industrial growth, water pollution more broadly contributes to the degradation of aquatic ecosystems through processes like cultural eutrophication. This process, driven by the introduction of sewage, fertilizers, and other nutrients, can lead to hypoxia—a condition of critically low oxygen levels—and harmful water blooms that threaten fisheries and marine life.2