Beijing - Thousands of soldiers and workers on Friday were clearing green algae from the sea and shore near China's Qingdao port, the host city of sailing events during next month's Olympics, state media said. The city mobilized more than 10,000 people and 1,200 boats to help remove the algae from the sea and shoreline after it coloured green an area of nearly 100 square kilometres, the Qingdao Morning Post and other media reported.
The Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee told the newspaper that the presence of algae in the inshore area was decreasing and that it would not affect the Olympic sailing competition.
About 285,000 tons of algae was removed by Thursday and authorities were assembling 32,000 metres of floating oil buffers to prevent more algae from reaching the area.
The area affected by the algae, which has the botanical name enteromorpha prolifera, had reduced to about 49 square kilometres by Thursday, the official China Daily quoted a Qingdao government spokesperson as saying.
Winds and the sea current were pushing the algae inshore and it covered about one-third of the 50-square-kilometre area designated for Olympic sailing, the spokesperson said.
The algae had also covered parts of the training area and "sometimes blocked sailing routes and affected preparations for the sailing teams", China Daily said.
The government planned to finish the clean-up by July 15.
The boats used to haul in the algae included 80 large trawlers and about 1,100 other fishing boats, the semi-official China News Service said.
Government maritime experts said some of the algae had drifted north up the coast to Qingdao from areas of the Yellow Sea near the ports of Rizhao and Jiaonan.
The experts said the nutrient content of seawater near Qingdao was decreasing and that the water quality was fit for Olympic sailing, China Daily reported.
It said competitors from more than 30 national teams were training in Qingdao ahead of Olympic sailing competitions scheduled from August 9 to August 23.
